From editor@burmanet.org Tue Oct 22 17:50:37 2002 From: editor@burmanet.org (editor@burmanet.org) Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 12:50:37 -0400 (EDT) Subject: BurmaNet News: October 22 2002 Message-ID: <54090.207.10.94.131.1035305437.squirrel@webmail.pair.com> October 22 2002 Issue # 2109 INSIDE BURMA AFP: UN rights envoy meets Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi AFP: Myanmar junta says ILO mission visiting the country Xinhua: Myanmar agrees with ILO on developing labor practices Irrawaddy: Kachin conference an important step forward DVB: Burma inaugurates new naval deep-sea port, base in Bokpyin township NLM: Burma’s energy minister inspects Mann oilfield, discusses oil, gas production NLM: Burmese leader Lt-Gen. Maung Bo call for sufficiency in palm oil MONEY Xinhua: Tourist arrivals rise in Myanmar in first half of 2002 REGIONAL Xinhua: Myanmar calls for regional cooperation in use of resources INTERNATIONAL Reuters: TotalFinaElf denies Myanmar rights abuses DPA: 15 Myanmar intruders arrested off eastern India coast MISCELLANEOUS ILO: Report [featured link] Scotsman: Mugabe's Zimbabwe fast becoming Africa's Burma International Examiner: Seattle Burmese community reacts to release __INSIDE BURMA______ Agence France-Presse October 22 2002 UN rights envoy meets Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said the prospects for a long-running dialogue on national reconciliation in Myanmar were good after meeting opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday. "The prospect of dialogue is good. I do not want to elaborate on it. In fact, I have to keep everything confidential," he told reporters after a 90-minute meeting with the leader and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD). Myanmar's military junta and Aung San Suu Kyi have been engaged in a landmark dialogue, brokered by the United Nations, aimed at national reconciliation since October 2000. Although the talks have so far resulted in her release from 19 months of house arrest in May, they are now widely believed to have stalled and have not progressed beyond the confidence-building stage. Pinheiro, who arrived in Yangon last Thursday and will spend 11 days here, has also held talks with leading members of the ruling junta including military intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung. "My mission is successful in terms of full cooperation from the authorities," he said. "I have had the opportunity to elaborate on the need to pursue negotiations for national reconciliation." But Pinheiro cancelled a three-day trip to Myanmar's Shan state which was due to begin on Tuesday. "I can't travel to the Shan state because of the impossibility of doing fact-finding within a few days. But I will visit again in February next year," he said, without specifying if the visit would include a trip to Shan state. The junta had invited him to go there to investigate a report by two Shan women's groups based in Thailand who had alleged that the military used rape as a weapon of war. Myanmar activists welcomed his decision to scrap the plans, saying that the government would have stage-managed his trip and prevented him from speaking to victims. Instead, according to his revised official schedule he will head to Mon state over the next three days where he will visit prisoners in an effort to assess the overall human rights situation in Myanmar. The Brazilian academic has already met with several prisoners during his visit. "The prisoners I have met are old, aged, who are serving prison terms for more than five years. They have some complaints concerning treatment," he said. International concern has been raised over elderly and sick prisoners failing to receive appropriate medical treatment while in Myanmar's jails. Pinheiro's visit also comes as Yangon fends off mounting criticisms of its human rights record. In addition to the rape allegations, US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said last week it believed more than a fifth of the soldiers serving in Myanmar's army could be under the age of 18 and that some of them were forced to participate in atrocities. Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied all the allegations. Pinheiro is due to leave Myanmar on October 28. _______ Agence France-Presse October 22 2002 Myanmar junta says ILO mission visiting the country An International Labour Organisation (ILO) team, which has condemned Myanmar for failing to eradicate forced labour, has arrived in the country, the military government said Tuesday. The junta said in a statement that the ILO mission which began Monday under the direction of ILO vice director-general Kari Tapiola would "assist and further develop Myanmar's labour practices". "We welcome this mission and pledge to assist and cooperate fully with the efforts of the ILO," said government spokesman Colonel Hla Min. Myanmar is widely condemned by the international community for its use of forced labour. A 1998 ILO inquiry found the practice was "widespread and systematic" and targeted ethnic minorities living in border regions. The ILO's newly appointed liaison officer in Yangon, Hong-Trang Perret-Nguyen, told the Myanmar Times this week that while the government had taken important steps to eradicate forced labour, more needed to be done. "Some very important steps have been taken by the government, in terms of issuing orders, instructions and circulars, but those circulars and orders have to be complemented and supplemented by more specific instructions and then they have to be implemented," she told the semi-official weekly newspaper. "And there must be evidence that they are being implemented. We need to make some progress, to show some practical measures, before the next governing body meeting in March 2003," she said. Perret-Nguyen was appointed in September after the Geneva-based ILO and the junta agreed in March that the role would cover all activities related to ensuring the "prompt and effective" elimination of forced labour in Myanmar. The latest ILO mission to Myanmar comes as an international trade union organisation accused French energy giant TotalFinaElf of using forced labour in the country on projects linked to its Yadana gas pipeline. Separately, a French state prosecutor opened a landmark investigation last Thursday into claims by two Myanmar citizens that they were forced to work on the Yadana pipeline. ___ Xinhua News Agency October 22 2002 Myanmar agrees with ILO on developing labor practices YANGON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) --The Myanmar government has agreed with the International Labor Organization (ILO) on an ILO technical cooperation mission to help the country further develop labor practices, said government spokesman Hla Min Tuesday. The mission, which arrived in Yangon Monday, will undertake the task as directed by the ILO Vice Director-General Kari Tapiola. "We welcome this mission and pledge to assist and cooperate fully with the efforts of ILO," Hla Min said, adding that the Myanmar government is committed to a program of labor practices which is fully in line with international norms. Since November 2000, the Myanmar military government has been under pressure from the ILO, which then called on its 175 member governments to impose sanctions on the country and review their relations with Myanmar to ensure they were not abetting forced labor. In March this year, the Myanmar government reached an agreement with the ILO, allowing a representative of the organization to station in Myanmar to ensure eradication of forced labor. _______ Irrawaddy October 22 2002 Kachin Conference an Important Step Forward By Naw Seng October 22, 2002—Amid an increasingly sensitive political situation, ethnic Kachin people have gathered yesterday for a landmark public conference at Laiza, close to the China border. The conference, organized by the Kachin Independent Organization (KIO) will focus mainly on finding a common platform to represent the Kachin people. According to sources in Laiza, the meeting began with more than 300 delegates from across the social spectrum, including Kachin students from major universities in Burma as well as some prominent leaders. The five-day conference will give Kachin people a chance to discuss their future. "I hope that a Kachin parliament will be established to represent the Kachin people," said Gam Awng a student delegate who attended the conference. Gam Aung said it was that Kachin people had the chance to work through important issues. Until now, "armed groups have had no authority to speak about politics," he said. Political development in the Kachin State has been at a virtual standstill for decades and the Kachin people have suffered from ongoing uncertainty. The KIO signed a ceasefire with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in February 1994 but any sort of political accord between the Kachin and Burmese authorities has yet to materialize. "Every one believes that this task is necessary, and this conference will yield a good result for Kachin," said a KIO officer who did not want to be identified. Sources said that almost 40 senior members, including the leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), attended the conference. However, delegates from the other group, Kachin Defense Army (KDA) were absent. The meeting was conducted with approval from the Burmese authorities but sources said there were a lot of Burmese Military Intelligence officers hanging around, near where the meeting was taking place. Some leaders are skeptical of the motives of Burmese authorities. Big meetings like this, which involve input from civilian leaders from ceasefire groups, are rare. "I won't sit in that meeting because the meeting organizers invited me without being given a definite political agenda," said Zau Ing, leader of the Kachin National Congress for Democracy (KNCD) who recently met with the the UN’s human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro in Rangoon. In June this year, KIO held another conference at its headquarters, which was only open only to members. This public meeting is believed to be the first open meeting in Kachin history. Three Kachin armed groups—KIO, NDA-K and KDA—all signed ceasefire agreements with junta in the late 1980s and early 1990s and have since been unable to discuss political issues or take part in any real political development. The KNCD, a Kachin political party and member of the United Nationalities Alliance, won three seats in the 1990 General Election, which junta leaders have refused to honor. ______ Democratic Voice of Burma October 20 2002 BURMA INAUGURATES NEW NAVAL DEEP-SEA PORT, BASE IN BOKPYIN TOWNSHIP DVB Democratic Voice of Burma has learned that Kyaukhtanaung deep-sea port and a security naval base were opened at Bokpyin Township in Tenasserim Division on 18 October. Officers from the Defence Ministry and the Navy came and opened the facility. DVB correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed this report. Myint Maung Maung The deep-sea port and office building of Tenasserim Division Naval Tactical Base and No 38 Security Naval Base near Karthidi Village at the mouth of Kyaukhtanaung Creek in Bokpyin Township were inaugurated at 0930 on 18 October. Lt-Gen Maung Bo from the Defence Ministry, Navy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Soe Thein, and Coastal Military Region Commander Maj-Gen Tha Aye opened the facility. The construction of the deep-sea port began on 29 March 2000 and was a joint undertaking between the SPDC State Peace and Development Council naval engineers and Dagon International Construction Company. The SPDC naval sources say that the Kyaukhtanaung naval deep-sea port is the biggest tactical deep-sea port in southern Burma that could handle large strategic naval vessels. ______ New Light of Myanmar October 21 2002 BURMA'S ENERGY MINISTER INSPECTS MANN OILFIELD, DISCUSSES OIL, GAS PRODUCTION Yangon Rangoon , 21 October: Minister for Energy Brig-Gen Lun Thi, went to the filling station No 0977 in Pyay Prome on 19 October and inspected the distribution of fuel. The minister gave instructions on direct distribution of fuel to users. In the afternoon, the minister attended the work coordination meeting for the third quarter of 2002-2003 of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise held at the meeting hall of Mann oilfield. Managers reported on production of respective oilfields and the minister laid down future work programmes for boosting production of oil and gas. Also present at the meeting were Director-General of Energy Planning Department U Soe Myint, Managing Director of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise U San Lwin, directors and general managers of the oilfields. The minister inspected the extension of Shwetabin plot in Minbu yesterday and gave necessary instructions to officials on maintenance of natural gas and crude oil pipelines. Then, the minister saw over the repair work of Mann oil well No 39 which was stopped functioning in 1975. The well now produces 56 barrels of crude oil and one million cubic feet of natural gas a day. In the afternoon, the minister went to Thagyitaung (Sabai) oil and gas field in Pauk Township, Pakokku District, Magway Division. At the briefing hall the general manager and officials reported to the minister on production of oil and gas at the field. The field can produce 1100 barrels of crude oil and seven million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The minister later inspected the digging of Thagyitaung oil well No 15 and fulfilled the needs. ______ New Light of Myanmar October 21 2002 BURMESE LEADER LT-GEN MAUNG BO CALLS FOR SUFFICIENCY IN PALM OIL Yangon, 21 October: Member of the State Peace and Development Council SPDC Lt-Gen Maung Bo of the Ministry of Defence, officials of the State Peace and Development Council Office and departmental officials, left here by air and arrived in Kawthoung Kawthaung at 0745 local time on 19 October. Lt-Gen Maung Bo and party, together with Commander Brig-Gen Tha Aye met oil palm entrepreneurs at Bayintnaung Hall of Kawthoung Station Yeiktha. In his address, Lt-Gen Maung Bo said permits to grow oil palm were issued to the national oil palm entrepreneurs in 1995-96 with the objectives "Taninthayi Tenasserim Division must be an oil pot of the state and there must be sufficiency of edible oil". He spoke of the need for the national oil palm entrepreneurs to lay emphasis on boosting production of palm oil. They are to report on true situation and difficulties encountered. The government would provide assistance to the oil palm entrepreneurs, he added. He said the oil palm entrepreneurs are to extend cultivation acreage in the interests of the people and the state as well as their own. He also urged them to make endeavours for boosting production of palm oil. The oil palm entrepreneurs reported on cultivation of oil palm, cultivation acreage, yield of crude palm oil, preparation for establishment of palm oil factory, targets for extended cultivation of oil palm and requirements. The commander, Minister Brig-Gen Maung Maung Thein, Managing Director of Myanma Perennial Crops Enterprise U Myint Oo and officials reported on successful implementation of oil palm project in Taninthayi Division, benefits of establishment of palm oil factory and provisions. Lt-Gen Maung Bo fufilled the requirements. In the afternoon, Lt-Gen Maung Bo met departmental officials from Kawthoung and Bokpyin Townships. Next, Kawthoung District Manager of Myanma Agriculture Service U Maung Ko reported on paddy production for rice sufficiency in the district, rice sufficiency in 2001-2002, targets for 2002-2003, reclamation of land for extended cultivation of monsoon paddy, targets for cultivation of monsoon and summer paddy and cold season crops and cultivation of pepper. District Head of Kawthoung District Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department U Maung Maung Lwin reported on giving vaccine to animals to guard against infectious diseases, performance of vaccination on Newcastle disease and arrangements for increased poultry farming. District Head of Kawthoung District Fisheries Department U Aye Tin reported on preventive measures against depletion of fish and prawn stocks, cold storage for fish and prawn processing, sale of fish and prawn and collection of revenues. Chairman of Kawthoung District Peace and Development Council Lt-Col Kyaw Phyo reported on data of the district, monsoon paddy cultivation and rice sufficiency for 2002-2003, cultivation of cold season crops, summer paddy and oil palm, rubber and Thitseint (Bellaric Myrobalan), livestock breeding, construction of roads and bridges, rural development and health and education sectors. The commander reported on fulfillments for Kawthoung District and Taninthayi Division, arrangements for reclamation of lands and cultivation of new paddy strains and growing one oil palm by each person programme. Lt-Gen Maung Bo said all service personnel and officials are to discharge duties of the State with goodwill. Necessary assistance will be provided to farmers and the oil palm entrepreneurs who grow beans and pulses, rubber, oil palm and perennial crops for regional development, local rice sufficiency and consumption. According to the need for efficient use of electricity and fuel, surplus electricity and fuel should be used in boosting production of commodity, he said. Departmental personnel are responsible for safeguarding territory of the State and the race and Sasana with patriotism and they are to organize the local people to participate in unity in those tasks. Lt-Gen Maung Bo and party spent the night at Kawthoung Station Guest House. ____MONEY_____ Xinhua News Agency October 22 2002 Tourist arrivals rise in Myanmar in first half of 2002 YANGON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) --Tourist arrivals in Myanmar rose 23. 46 percent to 170,858 in the first half of 2002 from 138,385 in the same period of last year, according to figures issued by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. In 2001, 278,951 foreign tourists came to Myanmar, according to the ministry. To promote tourism development, Myanmar has signed cooperation agreements with China, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore and Thailand. In order to attract more tourists from neighboring China, Myanmar has allowed those from that country to use Chinese currency yuan during their stay in Myanmar starting July 18. Myanmar is also cooperating with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states in regional tourism activities, including formulating cooperation programs for tourist destinations in the region and launching market promotion activities of nations in the Great Mekong region as well as Ganges-Mekong cooperation program. Official statistics show that since Myanmar opened to the outside world in late 1988, contracted foreign investments in the sector of hotels and tourism have amounted to 1.054 billion US dollars. Of the foreign-invested hotel projects, 25 have been completed and are in operation with 11 more under implementation. There are also 498 local private hotels, motels and inns with 11,292 rooms in the country. Myanmar has set a target of drawing 500,000 foreign tourists annually. __REGIONAL_____ Xinhua News Agency October 22 2002 Myanmar calls for regional cooperation in use of resources YANGON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) --A high-ranking Myanmar official Tuesday called the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) states to forge further cooperation to maximize the use of resources to bring more and more people into the economic mainstream and to promote equitable access to the benefits of development. Myanmar Minister of Finance and Revenue, U Khin Maung Thein made the call at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN finance and central Bank deputies meeting here. Reviewing the experiences after Myanmar's joining of the ASEAN in July 1997, the minister said that ASEAN finance meeting is of great significance for promoting mutual understanding, exchanges and cooperation among the member countries. He noted that one of the most important developments in recent years is the growing awareness of interdependence of the world, urging the member states to work and act together at every level, whether it be local, regional or global, with mutual understanding and respect for each and every country's integrity and sovereignty. ASEAN economies have shown signs of recovery from the cyclical downturn experienced during the second half of 2001, citing the growth projected for the region for this year which is at between 3.5 and 3.9 percent, he added. The one-day meeting will discuss the roadmap for integration of ASEAN for the finance sector under the agreement reached in the seventh ASEAN summit held in Brunei in November 2001. U Khin Maung Thein reiterated Myanmar's commitment to full cooperation with other ASEAN states to achieve the objective. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ____INTERNATIONAL_____ Reuters October 21 2002 TotalFinaElf denies Myanmar rights abuses By Tom Miles BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - A body representing trade unions on Monday accused oil giant TotalFinaElf of knowingly profiting from human rights abuses in Myanmar, an allegation the French company denied. The 350-page report by the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) is not the first time an oil firm has been accused of wrongdoing in the resource-rich country. The report also alleged abuses by Myanmar troops. Many Western firms have stopped sourcing goods from Myanmar following pressure from human rights groups. The southeast Asian nation, formerly known as Burma, has been treated as a pariah by many Western countries for many years. "The ICFTU has uncovered new proof that the oil giant TotalFinaElf directly and knowingly profits from forced labour imposed by the Burmese army on civilians," the ICFTU said in a statement. The military has ruled the country since 1962. TotalFinaElf flatly rejected the criticism. "TotalFinaElf reaffirms that it has had complete control, from start to finish, of its operations in this country, and that it has taken into account the daily needs of people employed on its projects," the company said in a statement. It said it had provided electricity, medicine, schools and sponsored agricultural projects for the local population. TotalFinaElf has been in the spotlight already this year when Myanmar refugees in France and Belgium said they were taking the firm to court, alleging they were forced into hard labour for the company. The company has called it "unimaginable" that it could ever make use of forced labour. UNION CRITICAL The ICFTU statement on Monday said the report included allegations that forced labour was being used for road building and other infrastructure work connected to TotalFinaElf's Yadana pipeline operation. "Multinationals such as TotalFinaElf have long maintained that there is no link between their investments in Burma and the growing use of forced labour," ICFTU Myanmar expert Janek Kuczkiewicz said in a statement. "This new evidence poses real questions about the connections between multinational enterprises, the Burmese military and the use of forced labour," he said. The report's other allegations, unconnected with the oil firm, included accounts of the Burmese army attacking trade union facilities, looting migrants' food stocks and razing elementary schools, a hospital and a workshop for the disabled. It said it was common practice for the army to force people to march at the front of columns as "human shields" to protect the military against rebel ambushes. An ICFTU spokesman said most of its evidence, collected between October 2001 and last month, came from interviews and activists in Myanmar, notably members of underground trade unions. ICFTU said it had sent the report to the United Nations' International Labour Organisation. It also called on European Union foreign ministers, who are meeting in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday, to ban investment in Myanmar by EU firms _____ Deutsche Presse-Agentur October 22 2002 15 Myanmar intruders arrested off eastern Indian coast Indian navy commandos captured 15 Myanmar nationals who had intruded into eastern Indian waters off the Southern Nicobar island, a report said Tuesday. The United News of India reported that the intruders were part of a group of fishermen illegally poaching in Indian waters. The intruders who were hiding in dense forests of Nicobar were captured on Sunday, navy officials said. The Myanmar nationals were noticed on October 11 and their trawlers were confiscated by the navy, but they managed to flee into the jungle. In a search operation that lasted for a week 13 poachers were caught and two more poachers surrendered to the authorities. This is the second incident of arrest of Myanmar intruders in the Andaman and Nicobar island group off the eastern coast of India near. _____MISCELLANEOUS_______ International Labor Organisation November 2002 To read the full text report, please visit: Richow (Original) pdf version online at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb285/pdf/gb-4.pdf ________ Scotsman October 18 2002 Mugabe's Zimbabwe fast becoming Africa's Burma By Benedict Rogers (director of the human-rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide. A version of this article appeared in the Wall Street Journal.) THIS week the Australian prime minister, John Howard, was unsuccessful in his efforts to have Zimbabwe suspended from the Commonwealth at the so-called Troika meeting at Abuja in Nigeria. The other two Troika leaders present - from South Africa and Nigeria - said the panel should give Mugabe another six months to improve human rights, promote political reconciliation and cooperate with a UN land reform programme - before considering suspending Zimbabwe. We have seen the results of such prevarication before. Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe is rapidly becoming Africa's Burma. The parallels are uncanny. Both regimes came unstuck after they cast aside the old colonial names for their nations, with Burma becoming Myanmar and Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe. Along with their names, both jettisoned a tradition of efficient government under an apolitical civil service in favour of a version of bureaucratic socialism. Now both countries are run by paranoid dictators whose madness has wrecked their economies and killed thousands of people. Just as Burma was once Asia's rice bowl, Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa. In 1980, the year Mugabe overthrew white rule, inflation stood at 3 per cent, while the economy was growing by 10 per cent. Now, inflation is rapidly spiralling upwards and food prices have risen by 150 per cent in the past year. Most economists predict a fall in gross domestic product of 12 per cent this year - the largest in Zimbabwe's history. In the last three years, Zimbabwe has moved from being a net exporter of food to a situation where today most of all food consumed has to be imported. Burma, under a similarly megalomaniac leader, Ne Win, went through a comparable economic collapse. In 1947, when the British gave Burma its independence, the country was the greatest exporter of rice in the world. By 1988, it was one of the ten poorest countries in the world and a net importer of rice. Mugabe's violent onslaught against the white farmers is akin to the Burmese junta's persecution of the ethnic minorities. Compare the white farmers in Zimbabwe with, for example, the Karen in Burma. Both were prosperous minority groups that valued education highly. According to Pascal Khoo Thwe, from the Kayan Padaung ethnic minority in Burma, in his recent book From the Land of Green Ghosts, Ne Win's regime was "marked by hostility to educated people". The same could be said of Mugabe. Ne Win adopted an isolationist, anti-colonialist stance, and associated the ethnic minorities with being pro-British. That is precisely Mugabe's language against the white farmers. Ne Win's stated ideal was to "end the exploitation of man by man." There are echoes of this in Mugabe's programme of forcibly removing the white farmers and redistributing farmland to Zimbabwe's black majority. The only problem, in both cases, is that however equitable the theory sounds, in practice the only beneficiaries are the leaders' cronies. In Burma, Pascal Khoo Thwe writes, the result was "a sort of voodoo socialism, composed of little more than slogans". Senior Burmese army officers "embarked on a campaign of national plunder", profiting from the jade mines and opium trade. The news that Mugabe's wife has appropriated a farm and ordered its elderly owners off is yet more confirmation that he and his thugs, too, have embarked on a campaign of national plunder. Like Burma, Zimbabwe is now a country in which one is likely to go to jail for speaking out against the regime. The former leader of Zimbabwe's civil service union, Ephraim Tapa, now in exile in Britain, said last month: "If I go back, I would be dead within hours." Most Burmese in exile and Karen and Karenni refugees in camps along the Thai-Burma border know that feeling only too well. Yet another parallel is the fact that even given the oppression of minorities, the majority peoples still suffer. In Zimbabwe, more than 150,000 black farm workers have already lost their livelihoods and possessions. Some have lost their lives. Last month, Mugabe ordered the eviction of a further 2,900 farmers, out of 4,500 remaining - which, when farm workers and families are taken into account, will involve up to 1.2 million people. There is cause for concern about the use of international aid to both countries. In both Zimbabwe and Burma, distribution of food supplies risks being hijacked and siphoned off to the armed forces and supporters of the regime. Both Mugabe and the Burmese junta are illegitimate regimes. In Burma, the seizure of power was unashamedly blatant. Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy won over 80 per cent of the parliamentary seats in 1990, yet the military refused to recognise the result. She has been in and out of house arrest ever since. In Zimbabwe, Mugabe stands accused of rigging the presidential elections earlier this year. He subjected his principal opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change, to constant harassment and, on occasion, arrest. The biggest point that Zimbabwe and Burma have in common is the impotence of the international community. In both cases, economic sanctions and boycotts have been piling up. But these actions are token and involve little effort or sacrifice. It is time for the democratic world to take a stand and take bold, even risky, action to end the murderers' reign of terror. Such action should not just involve the West. The neighbours of these two tyrannies need to end their complicity. Zimbabwe's African neighbours have been at best weak and at worst supportive of Mugabe's thuggish behaviour. There are fears that his land redistribution policy will be copied in Namibia. South Africa so far has been unwilling to act, despite having considerable leverage over Zimbabwe, because it provides most of the country's energy supplies. Similarly with Burma, instead of being sidelined it has been welcomed Into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and has even been able to bully its smaller neighbours, as in the case of its veto of newly independent East Timor's application for observer status. Thailand, while providing shelter for refugees from Burma, is too nervous to do anything to upset the junta; China arms Rangoon to the teeth; Indonesia and the Philippines stay silent. Opposition groups in Zimbabwe have demanded armed UN intervention to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Ethnic minorities in Burma ask for the same. Ephraim Tapa said recently that "there is not much Zimbabweans can do. We need outside help now." So do the Karen and Karenni, and indeed the pro-democracy movement in Burma. "Governments talk openly about overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Why not Mugabe?" says Mr Tapa. And why not the Burmese junta? Do Burma and Zimbabwe not merit inclusion in the "axis of evil"? They may not be a direct threat to the West in the way Iran, Iraq and North Korea are, but they are no less evil in their slaughter of their own people and may spread instability to their neighbours. So, on the road to Baghdad, Mr Bush, don't forget about Rangoon and Harare. ______ International Examiner October 21 2002 Seattle Burmese community reacts to release By Nguyen, Nhien His family calls him a blacksheep. But Myo Thant, a Burmese immigrant to Seattle, prefers to call himself a revolutionary. Thant has been fighting for the freedom of the people of his native country in Burma for 14 years, since age 18 when he joined the pro-democracy uprising. Now, living in Seattle for the past two years, Thant continues with his mission as member of the Free Burma Coalition. Reacting to last week's news of the release of the world's most famous political prisoner--Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi--local activists rejoice over the development which brings Burma one step closer to democratic freedom. Known for her fiery charisma and Gandhi-like essays on nonviolence and active resistance, Aung San Suu Kyi was the only Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the world under long-term house arrest. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, a Chinese American pediatrician at Virginia Mason, travels to the ThaiBurma border every year to work with the Burmese refugee community. He said, "We are overjoyed with Aung San Suu Kyi's release...We should feel proud of the many people in our community who have devoted their time and spirit to the international Free Burma campaign." Kwan-Gett, who is interested in human rights issues, said, "Aung San Suu Kyi has urged us to practice compassion towards all people, and to live our lives without fear." Larry Dohrs, coordinator of Seattle Burma Roundtable, met Aung San Suu Kyi in June 1996. Dohrs recalls the leader as charismatic and as having a strong role in Southeast Asia. About the news of the release, Dohrs said, "Yes, it's good, but we have a long way to go." Dohrs, a longtime Burma supporter and Vice President of Seattle's Newground Investment Services, is cautiously optimistic about the next steps towards progress for Burma. He believes the country is truly in crisis, with poor public health, the rising number of HIV infection and an education system "in shambles." Though Thant can count the number of Burmese people in Seattle on his hands, he believes that there is a strong community of supporters for freedom of Burma. Of the feelings of fellow Burmese, Thant said, "We're very happy. We just wait and see what happens ... We don't want to demand too much right now." In 1988, Thant received basic military training and fought for six years in the revolutionary area along the Thai-Burma border. Since joining the fight against the military regime, Thant has not seen his family for 13 years. Currently, he is studying English and computer science in order to return to Burma someday with helpful skills for rebuilding his country. Thant is working to educate people in Seattle about Burmese culture and political issues through visiting schools and other advocacy projects. The Free Burma Coalition will be fundraising for refugees in June. Contact burma@u.washington.edu or visit www.freeburmacoalition.org. Article copyright the International Examiner.