Burma Update

Thursday, April 29, 2004

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Yangon
Updated at 4.19pm:
Top members of Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) on Thursday met with their detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home for the second time to discuss next month's constitutional convention.

All nine members of the NLD's decision-making Central Executive Committee were present, including vice-chairman deputy Tin Oo who was brought from house arrest to attend the talks, a reporter on the scene saw.

The NLD officials also met with Suu Kyi Wednesday, but said afterwards that no definite decision had been reached on whether to attend the military government's March 17 convention aimed at drafting a constitution.

SCMP - Wednesday, April 28, 2004

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Yangon
Top members of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) met their detained leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, at her home yesterday to discuss next month's constitutional convention.

"We have not yet made any decisions with regard to attending the national convention. We will meet again before we make a decision," said one of the party members after attending the 3-1/2-hour meeting.

All nine members of the NLD's decision-making Central Executive Committee were present, including vice-chairman deputy U Tin Oo, who was brought from house arrest to attend the talks.

The party leaders were taken into detention last May when Ms Suu Kyi's convoy was attacked by a pro-junta gang during a political tour of northern Myanmar.

The attack prompted a major crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition.

NLD secretary U Lwin also confirmed the meeting had taken place and said it was the first time in a year that the nine top party members had met.

"This is the first time we got together since last May," he said, adding that Ms Suu Kyi was in good health and spirits.

U Lwin said last week that the party had repeatedly asked to meet Ms Suu Kyi to discuss the military government's plans to hold a convention beginning on May 17 to draft a new constitution.

The junta is keen for as many political parties and ethnic groups as possible to attend the convention, which is the first step in its so-called "road map to democracy".

Until recently, hopes were high that Ms Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo would be freed before the convention, but those prospects faded in recent days as the political atmosphere in Yangon grew tense.

After the junta reopened the NLD's headquarters, which had been shut during the crackdown, and released two more top party leaders, the party said on April 19 that it expected Ms Suu Kyi to be freed "in a day or two".

But a series of negative signals, including Myanmar's withdrawal from international talks on prospects for reform due to be held in Bangkok this month and sharp exchanges between the opposition and the government, have changed the outlook.

The convention is expected to assemble government, political parties and ethnic representatives in a forum that would essentially mirror a previous convention that collapsed in 1995 when the NLD walked out.

The opposition has demanded substantial changes to the format of the revived convention before it will attend. Political observers say the convention will have no credibility if the opposition does not take part.

RANGOON, Burma -- Burma's military government has reopened the headquarters for the opposition's National League for Democracy almost a year after shutting it down.

Officials broke open the lock on the pro-democracy party's door near the Shwedagon Pagoda in the capital Yangon on Saturday, news agencies reported. The party is led by detained Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The ruling generals shut down the office on May 31 after a bloody clash between Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters and a pro-government group.

The reopening comes one month before a convention aimed at producing a draft constitution to move the country toward democracy.

The NLD has refused to consider joining the talks until Aung San Suu Kyi and party vice chairman Tin Oo are freed from house arrest and meet with other senior party leaders.

Suu Kyi has been detained by Myanmar officials for nearly a year. While Myanmar's military government has said previously that Aung San Suu Kyi will be freed, it has refused to specify when.

Myanmar -- formerly Burma -- is due to hold a national convention to draft a constitution on May 17 as part of its road map to democracy.

Myanmar's military has ruled the country since 1962. The government remains largely isolated with the United States, the European Union and Japan either imposing sanctions or withholding aid.

In 1990, the nation's military rulers refused to acknowledge an 82 percent landslide victory by the NLD. But many people outside the nation consider the NLD the legitimate government.

In March Myanmar's appointed prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, met with U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, on a mission to bring Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition NLD and the regime closer to an agreement on restoring democracy.

The real head of government, however, is Gen. Than Shwe, who does not speak in public.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose pro-democracy efforts in her country earned her the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, was detained in May 2003.

She was held for months in an undisclosed location after a clash between her supporters and a pro-government group.

After undergoing a medical operation in October, she was placed under virtual house arrest.

Source: CNN Saturday, April 17, 2004

SCMP - Wednesday, April 14, 2004
BRUCE HAWKE in Bangkok

The Ukraine is pressing ahead with a factory in Myanmar to assemble 1,000 armoured personnel carriers, diplomats have confirmed.

The 10-year deal, which involves the import of all the component parts from the Ukraine, is believed to be worth significantly more than US$100 million.

The Ukraine's State Company for Export and Import of Military and Special Products and Services declined to respond to queries about the deal from the South China Morning Post.

The purchase represents a major upgrade of Myanmar's armoured personnel carrier fleet, which currently numbers only about 400, some of which are outdated British and inferior domestic models.

The motivation for the purchase is unclear - the army does not use armoured vehicles for frontline operations against insurgents and when there are civil disturbances in towns it generally moves troops by truck.

Historically, the regime's military procurement decisions have been based more on the availability of concessionary finance than on the country's perceived military requirements.

Myanmar's weapons import programme slowed down considerably in 1996 as the government was hit by a financial crisis. That crisis eased in 1998 as natural gas from two major offshore fields started supplying Thailand and filling state coffers.

The country has since made some major purchases, including a complete gun factory from Chartered Industries of Singapore for an undisclosed sum, 12 ground-attack planes from China for US$40 million, 10 MiG-29 jets from Russia for $130 million and 52 tanks from the Ukraine. The regime was also widely rumoured to be in the market for a nuclear research reactor from Russia or North Korea.

The country's armed forces total about 400,000, of which 370,000 are army personnel. Including implicit subsidies to the Ministry of Defence from other state agencies, military spending probably makes up about 60 per cent of the government budget.

The vast majority of hard currency spending goes to military procurement. The Ukraine is the most recent of Myanmar's suppliers.

In addition to the current deal, Myanmar has made many purchases of munitions and artillery from China, Pakistan, North Korea and Serbia in recent years.

Thirty Serbian aircraft engineers are now in the country refurbishing and upgrading the air force's 12 Yugoslavian made trainer/ground-attack aircraft.

Asia Times

By Bradley O Babson


Keep an eye on Myanmar. Since the audacious attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters shocked the world at the end of May 2003, the internal dynamics of change in this reclusive country have taken on new dimensions, and there are signs of potentially promising developments in the coming weeks and months. There is also a growing sense of urgency that the political fundamentals of ethnic stability and movement toward democracy need to be addressed sooner rather than later, although the prospect of a regime change that would drastically reduce the controlling authority of the military in Myanmar seems now a wilted dream.

Last year's attack on Suu Kyi appears to have been premeditated but shortsighted. Not only did it ignite revulsion and indignation among her supporters inside and outside the country, but it also seems to have crossed a red line within the military establishment itself. The status quo could no longer be tolerated. In the aftermath of this watershed event, there has been realignment of upper-level leadership in which Senior General Than Shwe has consolidated his authority at the helm of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), while at the same time appointing Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt prime minister with the authority to launch new initiatives both in developing a roadmap for democracy and in negotiating reconciliation agreements with recalcitrant ethnic insurgency groups.

The determination to move forward on this agenda is palpable. The military has long maintained that the path to democracy would require attainment of stability in the country as a first priority. The efforts to entice ethnic-minority groups to participate in a national convention to draw up a new constitution are guided by this belief. A fundamental objective of the convention will be to work out agreements that are broadly acceptable to the major ethnic-minority populations and that strike a balance between reasonable local autonomy and necessary national authority. This balance was never attempted under colonial rule and was never effectively established after independence. The national convention is thus a crucial step toward shaping a genuinely national consensus for governance that has been a missing ingredient in this highly pluralistic and divided society.

Building democracy requires more than holding elections. By concentrating on the process of building support for participating in a constitutional convention, the military authorities are laying the foundation for addressing other major issues related to building a functioning democracy in Myanmar. Primary among these are shaping future institutions of governance that will be legitimized and animated by a broadly accepted constitution, and delineating the meaning of citizenship through articulation of shared values and aspirations, including basic rights and obligations.

There are many important questions to be resolved in the convention deliberations. These include basic principles of national identity; the future role for the military in the governance structure and extent of civil authority; balance of power among ethnic groups and between central and local authorities; protections given to political institutions, freedom of religion and civil liberties; and commitment to strengthening the rule of law in enforcement of the constitution. So far, we have not heard much said on any of these critical issues.

Whatever the motivation that led to last May's attack on Suu Kyi and her NLD followers, the decision to keep her under house arrest and away from the microphone was a deliberate and tactical one. It has allowed the military government to move ahead with the ethnic-minority agenda without the distractions of the NLD raising issues that might confuse the process of reaching agreements with the ethnic groups to participate in the constitutional process. An important test of the commitment of the leadership to broadening the process and addressing the issues of institutional building and citizenship in a democratic Myanmar is their willingness to give the microphone back to Suu Kyi and to allow the NLD full voice in the national debate. The big question is: What will she say?

Setting a date for the convention and inviting the NLD to participate would be significant developments in which the stakes would be high for both the military leadership and for the proponents of democracy. To be successful, the convention and the constitution it adopts must be perceived as legitimate, domestically and abroad. Domestic legitimacy will be largely determined by popular perception of how representative the participants will be of the diverse interests in the country, how openly the deliberations are held and how constructively sensitive issues are resolved. International legitimacy is largely going to be determined by Suu Kyi and the NLD in deciding whether to join the process and whether to support the eventual conclusions. A strong vote of support for a new constitution would transform the politics of engagement with Myanmar and the politics of overseas dissident groups and their supporters.

Expectations are rising that in the coming weeks - before the anniversary of the May 2003 attack on Suu Kyi and the NLD - significant developments will take place to set the stage for the convening of the national convention. Let us hope so. But let us not be sanguine about how easy the road to democracy will be for Myanmar. Even if Than Shwe is willing to give the green light, and even if Suu Kyi is willing to work with the military authorities toward the convening of a genuinely representative convention, the challenges of resolving the legacy of divisiveness, building capacity for modern governance, and alleviating poverty in this complex society are enormous.

Under the best of circumstances, it will take many years of hard efforts for Myanmar to develop into the democratic and prosperous country that it has always had the potential to become.

Bradley O Babson is a consultantof Pacific Forum CSIS who can be reached at bradbabson@aol.com .

SCMP - Thursday, April 8, 2004

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kuala Lumpur
Three men armed with firebombs, machetes and an axe attacked Myanmar's embassy in Malaysia yesterday, hacking one senior official and starting a blaze that gutted the building.

Police arrested the three suspects, Myanmar nationals who had been turned away from the embassy on Tuesday after demanding officials endorse documents that claimed a relative was a freedom fighter in the country.

The three, from the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, believed the documents could help them win political-asylum status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, a police official said.

They returned yesterday morning, scaled the embassy's outer wall and began shouting demands and waving their weapons, including plastic bags filled with fuel, the mission's second secretary, Myint Thein Win, said.

The eight officials on duty locked themselves inside the embassy, and when a senior diplomat went outside to talk to the attackers, he was attacked with the axe and suffered head and hand injuries.

"They started to throw petrol in plastic bags at the building and set fire," Myint Thein Win said. "They tried to burn the ambassador's car. The minister counsellor was attacked with an axe."

Police arrived soon afterwards. The other embassy staff escaped without injury, Myint Thein Win said.

Tens of thousands of immigrants from Myanmar live in Malaysia, a magnet for migrant workers. Malaysia also attracts hundreds of asylum seekers who claim they face persecution from Myanmar's military rulers.

A Kuala Lumpur Fire Services Department official said more than 30 firefighters were dispatched to the embassy - in the downtown diplomatic district - just before 10am and found the small two- storey building ablaze.

The fire was brought under control within 30 minutes, but not before "the office block was destroyed", the spokesman said.

In an apparently unrelated attack on March 30, an explosive device was thrown at Australia's High Commission, scorching an outer wall but causing no injuries. Police said the device was a bottle filled with firecracker powder.

Malaysiakini Comment

Hannah Young
1:16pm Thu Apr 1st, 2004

In August last year, General Khin Nyunt, appointed Prime Minister, announced a 7-point plan for Burma. Known as a ‘road-map’ to democracy, its most immediate step was the re-convening of the National Convention with the aim of drafting a new Constitution.

While a glimmer of hope thus appears for a different Burma, people of the present still face conditions of deteriorating human rights. This is a matter that crosses political borders; it is inscribed most visibly in the bodies and minds of fleeing refugees who continue to wait desperately for justice and democracy in Malaysia, Thailand, and surrounding countries.

"The very day that we have peace, the very hour" one of them said to me recently, "I will go home. But not now; there is no hope for me there."

Indeed, life isn’t easy for the asylum seekers who have fled their homes. Both Thailand and Malaysia do not have legal provisions for people in refugees circumstances.

Thus, many minority groups who have fled the excesses of the junta regime tend to be caught between two difficult alternatives – face persecution, beatings and arrests in Burma, or eke out an unprotected existence in neighbouring countries as ‘illegals’.

Their hope is that justice and democracy is restored in their homelands. What chance is there for this in the near future? Much depends on how the process of drafting the Constitution is carried out.

Political prisoners

In a report released today entitled ‘Myanmar: The Administration of Justice – Grave and Abiding Concerns’, Amnesty International expresses that this process may be seriously hindered from proceeding in a free and open manner.

(The Burmese military junta has renamed the country Myanmar, but this was rejected by its opponents who argued that the name change was made by an illegitimate government which seized power after losing the 1990 general elections.)

Through interviews conducted with political prisoners, key Ministers under the present government, as well as police and prison officials, Amnesty establishes that arrests and surveillance of members of opposition parties continue to take place.

To date, they estimate that there are around 1,300 – 1,400 political prisoners in Burma, including members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and report that these number continue to rise. These are voices that can contribute legitimately to the process of Constitution-making, but are unlikely to do so.

Forced labour

Amnesty’s report describes the various structural ways in which justice has been compromised. Arbitrary arrests, lengthy pre-trial procedures, denial of access to lawyers, prolonged interrogation accompanied by torture and ill-treatment, and trials falling short of international fair trial standards, are those that impinge directly on the lives of political prisoners.

In addition, ongoing concerns throughout Burma include forced labour of civilians by the military, forcible relocations of members of minority groups, extrajudicial killings, and torture of civilians.

Meanwhile, many refugees wait endlessly for a time of justice. Since the regime began dictating the terms of citizenship in Burma, grandchildren have been borne to some of those awaiting return to their homes.

They are children of uncertainty, of restricted lives, of silence and fear. Living in Southeast Asia, they will ever remain outside of protection of States, until a democratic Burma transforms from chimera to reality.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hannah Young is the refugee coordinator at Amnesty International Malaysia.

By
Saw Kwe Htoo and Naw May Oo

The people of Burma, particularly the Karen people, now live in one of the most treacherous times in the history of our country. We stand today at the crossroads of our resistance movement that has been unwaveringly led by the Karen National Union (KNU) for more than half a century. The Karen people’s support for KNU isn’t confined to the rural areas of the Kawthoolei or Karen State where armed resistance has been concentrated. The vast majority of Karen people throughout Burma look up to the KNU as their national political organization, not simply a Thai-Burmese border-based organization. And they, not just the KNU leadership, prefer a political solution to the conflict that has plagued the country since independence in 1948.

The modern chapter of the Karen movement for national identity and self-determination began with the historic formation of the Karen National Union (KNU) on February 5, 1947 by the coming together of four existing Karen organizations, namely the Karen National Association (KNA), the Buddhist Karen National Association (BKNA), the Karen Central Organization (KCO) and the Karen Youth Organization (KYO). Under the leadership of the Karen National Union (KNU), the Karens began, or rather were compelled to begin their armed revolution, or insurrection, as has been usually depicted, on the commonly accepted date of January 31, 1949.

Obviously, not all the Karen people belong to the KNU, but the KNU, by virtue of its historical legitimacy, belongs to the entire Karen people. This has been and still is evident when the Karen people inside or elsewhere, unlike other ethnic nationalities, did not form any credible Karen political party except a small Karen National Congress for Democracy Party during the 1990 elections. The main reason was they felt the KNU was there representing and fighting for their ethnic and civil rights. And they looked up to the KNU's political leadership. By the same token, they believe that the KNU must constantly seek strategic coordination and support from Karens everywhere, inside, border and the world over.

At this point, it is important to note that the KNU is not a political party. Quite the contrary, it is a national union that has long historical roots and solid legitimacy. There are fundamental differences between a political party and a national union. A political party can speak only for and along its party line, the party’s ideology and party platform. But a national union must speak for and pursue the collective political desire of the entire people, in our case, the Karens – the right to self-determination and ethnic equality of the Karen people throughout Burma. A national union should be nationally inclusive in its characters, composition and coordination. Political ideology and strategy that it adopts must be a product of national deliberation; whereas a political party can operate as an exclusive entity and the policy and ideology that it pursues can be – and is often is - a product of the party’s executive committee meetings, especially in a country like Burma.

The ultimate goal of the Karen resistance movement is to achieve the right to self-determination of the Karen people with the guarantee of ethnic equality within a genuine union of Burma. That is our principle goal; we must stand firm on that. On the other hand, continuing military operations, declaring a cease-fire, attending or not attending the National Convention, seeking a tri-partite dialogue and/or multi-partite dialogue are all manifestations of different strategies. They are only means through which we strive to realize our goal. If and when necessary, we can and should be flexible with the means we adopt.

Since the inception of Karen resistance movement in 1949, Burma's internal political dimensions as well as regional and international situations have changed significantly. At the advent of economic globalization and digital world, Karen's struggle for self-determination and ethnic equality cannot be fought purely in the realm of politics. The powerful forces of economic globalization, in the name of free trade and development, have brought both challenges and opportunities for our movement. It is inevitable that we as a movement must confront cold realities and, while contending the powerful currents of socially rapacious and uncaring cooperation between governments, make the best use of emerging opportunities that the geo-political circumstances, geo-economic trends, and technological advancement of the day.

Having fought relentlessly for more than half-a-century, we as a movement need, as any healthy movement does, to critically review our strategy and approaches. While the KNU is the only organization that has been leading the armed resistance, it is recognized that several Karen groups and individuals have emerged lately and played their role throughout these years for the survival and development of our people. The emergence of numerous interest groups and development organizations that aim to strive for the social, economic and political advancement of Karen people must be seen as a great product of a given historical period.

Due to the changing political circumstances, many Karens have left their cherished homeland and migrated to Thailand and elsewhere. Under highly oppressive political situation, those who remained inside Burma have also lost direct contact with the resistance movement. But, despite this physical distance, differences in sociopolitical and intellectual orientation, the majority of Karen people share a common vision – to have ethnic equality and a right to self-determination for Karen people within a genuine Union of Burma. Varying experiences and the difficulties of the conditions under which our people have to live and operate created possibilities for divisions, and yet these must be resolved through open debates and deliberations with the view toward resolving natural differences that may – and do – exist within any social or political community. The KNU is not only a revolutionary organization but it also strives to operate, though admittedly not always successful, on democratic principles.

Rapidly changing circumstances at national and international levels necessitate a review of our strategies and approaches. The most challenging task ahead for the Karens is to generate a new generation leadership that is capable of looking beyond the same voices that recycle the old mantras or prescribe the same solutions, which can grasp the complex dynamics of ethnicity, and yet is attuned to the regional political situation of this increasingly interconnected world. The Karens need a leadership that is not only committed to the Karen’s collective vision of self-determination within a genuine union of Burma but that is also skillful and inventive in policymaking, intellectually and strategically flexible, and capable of adapting to – and taking advantage of the new developments in Burma, in the region and in the world.

It is now time for the Karens from all walks of life throughout Burma to congregate in a national meeting which will, in turn, enable them to explore peaceful and lasting solutions to the problems that have plagued them as the largest ethnic nationalities group, as well as Burma, their union, at large. As the half-a-century long national resistance movement is at its crossroads, there is a strong need for a National Consultative Conference, which will serve as a forum for Karen people, both inside and outside Burma, to discuss all the matters that urgently concern them at the national level and find a national consensus, in accord with their political culture, to carry on the struggle and realize their just dream of building a union of Burma where ethnic equality and right to self-determination are not words grudgingly written on the pages of a beautifully worded Constitution, but lived realities of the Karen in particular and all ethnic nationalities, Burman or otherwise, in general. Such a consultative conference will also contribute to our preparation for the larger national dialogue or convention that is being proposed by the ruling military junta and contested by the democratic opposition for fairness and openness.

End.

Saw Kwe Htoo, Governor of KNU's Mergui/Tavoy District, is also a member of its Central Standing Committee. Naw May Oo, based in Washington, DC, is with KNU's Foreign Affairs Department.

The United Nations refugee agency said Thursday it has been given permission by the government of Myanmar to visit the country's eastern border to prepare for a future return of refugees from Thailand.

But the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees stressed that it is not yet time for the at least 130,000 refugees to return to their homes in Karen State.

"We have worked on getting access to areas of return for the last 10 years and we have finally been able to get the OK," UNHCR spokesman Milton Moreno told The Associated Press.

However, "we are in no way saying that conditions are at the moment appropriate for return," he added.

Moreno said the agency plans to start missions to the region in the next few weeks to assess the situation there. The area is strewn with land mines, and UNHCR believes infrastructure, education and health services are severely lacking.

Karen ethnic rebels have been fighting for independence from Myanmar, also known as Burma, for more than five decades. The Karen National Union is the only major guerrilla group in Myanmar that has yet to sign a formal agreement with the ruling junta to lay down arms.

The two sides gave initial agreement to a cease-fire in December, but have not formalized the deal during two subsequent rounds of peace talks. Rebels and relief workers say government attacks against the guerrillas have continued.

Moreno said any future return of refugees would be "contingent on the political discussions and the eventual settlement."
"If there isn't a settlement, we are basically back at square one," he added.

AP WorldStream English (all) – 03/11/04
Story date: 11 Mar 2004
World News

When the U.N. refugee agency takes its first tentative steps into military-ruled Burma this year, the workshops and seminars it holds there will form the foundation of plans to prepare for the return – if and when this happens – of thousands of refugees.

But U.N. refugee officials say permission by Rangoon for the U. N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit the country does not mean that refugees are going to be back into the country any time soon.

The U.N. agency will be holding workshops and seminars in three areas of Burma – the Karen and Mon states and the Tenasserim Division, all of which are along Burma's south-eastern border near Thailand – to get an idea of conditions there.

"The workshops will help us assess the ground situation," Hasim Utkan, head of the UNHCR regional office in Bangkok, told IPS. "There are some minimum conditions that need to be fulfilled before people are offered the opportunity to go home."

However, he said that UNHCR – which on Mar. 11 said it had finally been given permission to visit Burma's border area – will not be assigning a "full-fledged team" from its staff for this initial operation in the three areas.

The workshop themes during the Geneva-based humanitarian agency's preliminary efforts in Burma will cover health, education, community services, infrastructure development and landmine clearance.

UNHCR hopes that these efforts will pave the way for these basic services and safety to be restored in villages and communities ahead of the day when refugees return.

"What is significant is that the SPDC has recognized that UNHCR should be there as a first step towards people returning," Utkan said in reference to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as Rangoon's junta is officially known.

Currently, there are close to 120,000 refugees in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. Over 90,000 of them are from the Karen ethnic community, while over 20,000 are Karennis. In Karen state, reports say, some 200,000 internally displaced persons are living in the jungle.

The steps being taken by UNHCR to help these refugees return are no different from the measures it pursued earlier when helping refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, who left in the sixties and seventies, head home from Thailand.

Since 1975, over 1.3 million people from neighboring countries have sought refuge in Thailand from wars and conflicts. The 1980s witnessed the highest presence of refugees in this South-east Asian nation – over 300,000 being assisted in UNHCR camps.

But while the U.N. agency considers the moment opportune for it to finally enter Burma – after a decade of appealing to the military regime for access to the areas where the refugee population come from – there are some who question this move.

Some Burmese exiles in Thailand argue that UNHCR's efforts will be undermined if the junta refuses to proceed with its plans to push ahead this year with its much-bandied political reform process.

That includes the reconvening of a national convention to draft a new constitution for a country that has been suppressed by a military dictatorship for over 40 years. Rangoon has still not announced a date to initiate this reform process, but the expectation is that it will start sometime around mid-year.

Rangoon also continues to hold under house arrest the opposition leader Aung San Suu Syi, who was taken in after an attack by gunmen, believed to be linked to the junta, in May 2003.

"I was not surprised by the SPDC's decision to let UNHCR in, but I think the decision to start work is premature," said Soe Aung, external affairs director of the Network for Democracy and Development, a group made up of Burmese exiles in Thailand.

"It is better if UNHCR waits till the political dialogue begins before going into Burma," he added during an interview. "Because if not, this U.N. effort may suffer due to the unexpected political developments in Burma."
Such concerns are in keeping with the view held by many Burmese exiles here that the Rangoon regime cannot be trusted and that it has to do more to improve its human rights record. Rangoon has been accused of pressuring people into forced labor camps, ordering members of the country's ethnic minorities to be porters for the army to imprisoning the SPDC's political opponents.

But the junta's current willingness to talk peace with the Karen National Union (KNU), a movement of ethnic Karens that have been fighting the Burmese military for the last 55 years, has helped Rangoon deflect some criticism.

Already, three rounds of peace talks have been held between KNU leaders and the SPDC's strongmen to lay the groundwork to ending Burma's longest running ethnic conflict.

"The talks have been frank and held in a good atmosphere," David Taw, head of foreign affairs for the KNU, told IPS. "We will be having another round of talks at the end of March or early April to discuss our current military positions."

He expects the outcome of that round of talks to minimize the potential of attacks taking place, since the KNU is expected to reveal its military positions to the SPDC. "Then clear demarcations can be made of each other's military strength to avoid confrontations," he explained.

The significance of these talks have not been lost on UNHCR, since the bulk of refugees it will have to help relocate are Karens who have fled their state over the years due to fighting and abuses by the Burmese military.
"The peace talks involving the KNU added a sense of urgency for us to get ready to help returnees," said UNHCR's Utkan.

At the same time, though, he admits that there are political minefields ahead as UNHCR pursues this new assignment. Added Utkan: "This will be a high-visibility operation, and we will be watched by many in the donor community who are skeptical about this process."

English IPS News – 03/17/04
Copyright ©2004 Global Information Network
Story date: 17 Mar 2004
World News

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 12 March 2004, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

You may have heard reports about an agreement UNHCR has reached with the Myanmar government on beginning initial efforts in the east of the country to create conditions that could eventually allow the voluntary return of 130,000 refugees from camps in neighouring Thailand. There are also an estimated 600,000 internally displaced people in this area of Myanmar.

Following meetings Feb. 12-14 between Myanmar officials and the director of our Asia-Pacific bureau, Mr. Jean-Marie Fakhouri, UNHCR will begin providing assistance to improve basic health, education, community services and infrastructure facilities in locations of potential refugee return.

We want to stress, however, that the current situation in the states along the Myanmar-Thailand border – Karen State, Mon State and Tenassarim Division – is not conducive to refugee returns. While discussions are currently taking place between the Myanmar authorities and insurgent groups, an acceptable settlement is an essential pre-requisite to refugee repatriation to this area.

Thus, our work at this stage will focus on the improvements mentioned. Years of conflict and insurgency have had a serious impact on basic facilities and infrastructure in the area and communities are not in a position to absorb possible large numbers of returnees without international assistance.

This preliminary work will be done through cooperation with locally active NGOs. UNHCR will not, at this stage establish field offices in the area and will operate through missions from our office in Yangon. We will coordinate our roving presence and community-based assistance with other agencies also active in the area.

Story date: 12 Mar 2004
Briefing Notes

SCMP - Tuesday, March 30, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Bangkok

Three men in military-ruled Myanmar have been convicted of high treason and sentenced to death for having contact with the UN's International Labour Organisation.

Representatives of the UN agency met the three and "consider that they have been condemned on unsound grounds and thus should be released", they said yesterday.

"Under no circumstances should anyone be prosecuted for contacts with the ILO", it said, demanding "the matter be settled by the government of Myanmar rapidly". The UN agency has worked for years to end forced labour in Myanmar.

Officials from Myanmar's military government were not immediately available for comment.

The three were among nine people found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death last November, it said.

A document, posted on the agency website, identified them as Min Kyi, Aye Myint and Shwe Mahn.

The UN labour agency's officials met Min Kyi and Aye Myint at Yangon's Insein prison on March 19 with "full co-operation" of prison authorities. The two men described being interrogated by military intelligence officials for several days, beaten, deprived of food, water and sleep, the document said.

Myanmar's junta faces widespread international disapproval for its poor human rights and anti-democracy record. Allegations persist that villagers are forced to work on government projects or are used as army porters, despite banning forced labour in 1999.

In November 2000, the UN's labour agency urged its 175-member countries to impose sanctions on Myanmar, but eased its position after reaching an agreement with the junta last year to eliminate forced labour.

The deal was suspended at the end of last May, after Myanmar's government took opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi into custody. She remains under house arrest.

Washington-based EarthRights International, a human rights group, said in a report last year the army forces villagers to carry supplies, act as guides and sweep for land mines all without pay.

Myanmar, meanwhile, has hit out at the US for characterising its plans for political reform as a sham.

US Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner said at a congressional hearing last week that the Myanmar generals were not sincere about their so-called road map towards democracy announced last year.