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BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 14, 2004 YANGON (Reuters) - Thirteen members of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy have been arrested just days before Myanmar's junta freed more than 5,000 prisoners last week, a party official says. NLD Secretary U Lwin said on Tuesday 13 party officials in Bogalay Township, about 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Yangon, were detained on December 6 for organising a National Day ceremony even though the event did not take place. "They were accused of trying to incite unrest and we hear they will be sent for trial," U Lwin told Reuters. Human rights groups say a crackdown on the opposition in military-ruled Myanmar has continued since the junta began releasing thousands of prisoners following an internal purge in October. More than 14,000 prisoners have been freed since late November, with the latest batch of 5,070 on Sunday. But they have included only a handful of an estimated 1,300-1,400 political prisoners. Nine NLD members and two Democracy Party leaders were let go on Sunday, raising to 56 the number of political detainees freed since the mass releases began. Western governments and human rights groups have demanded the generals free all other political prisoners, including NLD leader Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in the capital. The military has ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, ignoring a 1990 election victory by the NLD and keeping Nobel laureate Suu Kyi confined for most of the past 15 years. YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) is in a precarious situation, with its leader Aung San Suu Kyi under extended house arrest and the ruling junta all too happy to keep it out of a pledged democratisation process, analysts said. Given the political impasse, some analysts wonder whether Myanmar's main opposition force did not make a gross misjudgment in April when it boycotted a national convention called by the government as a historic step on a "road map to democracy". The National League for Democracy declared the convention "illegitimate". The convention's first session wrapped up in July and its more than 1,000 delegates are expected to meet again in February, tasked with drafting a constitution in the run-up to a referendum, followed by what the junta promises to be free and fair elections. In the absence of the National League for Democracy, the inflexible generals have even fewer obstacles in their path as they seek to ensure they will maintain most of their power after any election. They could content themselves with narrowly opening the door to a few marginal political parties to try to show the world they are at last introducing elements of democracy, analysts said. And the powerful junta could disband the National League for Democracy under the slightest of pretexts, assuring its ineligibility to run in any future election. "They might have that idea," party spokesman U Lwin told AFP. "We have to wait and see." The party won the 1990 elections in a landslide but the government refused to recognise the result. Today the NLD is not even authorised to have a fax machine. "They should have joined (the convention), as at least they would have been inside, which would have offered them a chance to express their views a bit," a political analyst in Yangon said. "Now the NLD is following a wait-and-see attitude. Is that the right thing to do? I seriously doubt it." Another analyst agreed that the National League for Democracy would have had more effect operating within the system, rigged as it may be. "Inside they would have shown they were part of the process, and would be part of it," said one scholar. The NLD had prepared everything for joining the convention, readying 54 delegates, but changed its mind when it learned that its conditions for attending -- namely the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest -- would not be met. "We do not have any regrets," U Lwin said of the boycott. "At the time they had refused to release Aung San Suu Kyi and (her deputy) Tin Oo". Since then its prospects have become even more somber, with the sacking in October of pragmatist prime minister General Khin Nyunt, seen as the only senior leader in favour of dialogue with the opposition. And political observers do not expect an early release of the Nobel peace laureate, whose house arrest was recently extended by one year. "When everything falls into place, with the passing of their constitution, with some articles which could disqualify her forever from any political role, then they could free her," said one analyst. And the junta could, for instance, exclude Aung San Suu Kyi, the widow of a Briton, from politics by enacting a regulation barring citizens married to foreigners from holding public office, observers said. In the meantime the charismatic 59-year-old spends her days at home, cut off from the outside world. A National League for Democracy without "The Lady", as she is known, has little political muscle or clout. "Without Suu Kyi, they are nothing," the scholar said. "The NLD... cannot make any decision without her. This is a fundamental weakness." The party is run by a central executive committee of octogenarians respectfully addressed as "uncles" but seen as hangovers from a previous era of activism. "The people in charge of the party are people of the past," said the analyst, with frustration swelling among younger members seeking a greater voice in NLD affairs. "A number of them would like a more confrontational approach," the analyst said. The NLD wrote to junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe last week seeking a "dialogue", but the party has never issued a detailed political programme for the country that could suggest a way forward. "The biggest mistake the NLD ever made was to turn their existence into a struggle for power," the scholar said. "They never engaged with the government in policy discussion." YANGON (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar has released at least 11 dissidents among more than 5,000 prisoners it has ordered freed in its latest mass release, opposition parties and officials said. The tally brings to 50 or more the number of political prisoners freed by the junta since mid-November, when it began ordering the release of thousands of people who may have been wrongly jailed by a military intelligence unit. "Altogether seven from our party have been freed so far this time," spokesman U Lwin of the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party told AFP. They included an NLD executive committee member from a township north of the capital Yangon, he said. On Sunday the junta also freed two prominent opposition leaders, Democracy Party vice chairman Htwe Myint, 76 and an early confidante of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and the party's chairman Thu Wai, also in his seventies. The two had been on the lists of prisoners of conscience compiled by international human rights groups. Two other dissidents were freed Sunday as well, U Lwin said. Rights watchdog Amnesty International, which says 1,350 political prisoners remain imprisoned in Myanmar, cites Htwe Myint and Thu Wai as serving seven-year jail terms for distributing leaflets in 1995 and having had their sentences extended in 2002. Htwe Myint was instrumental in introducing Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate and the head of the NLD, to politics in the 1980s, but he said Monday after his release that his days of political activism were over. "I will live now as an ordinary person," he told AFP in an interview. "I have no intention of making political activities again, whether the NLD party invites me to or not." Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in May last year and is under her third stint of house arrest. The NLD announced late last month that authorities had extended her detention by another year. There also has been no indication that her deputy Tin Oo has been freed. A government official who declined to be named told AFP that "more than 20 political prisoners were included" in the latest release. The latest mass release is the third announced since November 18 and brings the total number of inmates the junta said it would free to 14,318. A prisons department official told AFP all 5,070 detainees in the latest batch, mainly believed to be petty criminals, would be freed from dozens of jails across the country by late Sunday, but an official announcement had yet to be made Monday and independent verification was not possible. The junta said Saturday the prisoners were freed due to "National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) irregularities," referring to a military unit accused by the regime of abusing its powers in arresting thousands of citizens. The NIB was disbanded in October in a purge that saw the sacking of its former head premier General Khin Nyunt -- who favoured limited talks with Aung San Suu Kyi -- and his house arrest on corruption allegations. The small number of dissidents set free has come as a blow to the NLD which had been hoping for freedom for 400 in the first set of releases alone. Among those hoped to be let go was 74-year-old journalist Win Tin, a key opposition figure and NLD member who has spent the last 15 years in prison, but he remains behind bars. The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 despite a landslide election victory by the NLD in 1990 that was never recognised. LOS ANGELES (AFP) - US-based Unocal Corp. will pay to boost living conditions and protect villagers near Myanmar's Yadana gas pipeline under the settlement of a key human rights abuse case, the parties said. Unocal and lawyers for 14 Myanmar villagers who sued the firm for alleged complicity in rights abuses, including the use of slave labour during the building of the pipeline, announced late Sunday they had struck a deal in principle to settle the suit out of court. The tentative pact is the most significant reached under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a disputed law that allows foreigners to sue companies alleged to be indirectly responsible for overseas rights violations in US courts. Both sides in the legal row said Monday that under the accord, the energy conglomerate would help fund improvements in living conditions, education health and human rights for villagers along the pipeline. "Although the terms are confidential, the settlement in principle will compensate plaintiffs and provide funds enabling plaintiffs and their representatives to develop programs to improve living conditions, health care and education and protect the rights of people from the pipeline region," the parties said in a joint statement. "These initiatives will provide substantial assistance to people who may have suffered hardships in the region," they said. "Unocal reaffirms its principle that the company respects human rights in all of its activities and commits to enhance its educational programs to further this principle," the statement added. The group of 14 anonymous Myanmar villagers accused California-based Unocal of turning a blind eye to rights abuses, including murder, rape and forced labour, during the building of the natural gas pipeline in the 1990s. The preliminary deal came a day ahead of a scheduled hearing in the federal lawsuit by the full panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, which was cancelled. The villagers and their US lawyers have battled for eight years to hold Unocal responsible for allegedly condoning abuses by the ruling military junta in the country formerly known as Burma. The abuses allegedly took place during the construction of the 1.2 billion-dollar, 62-kilometer (39-mile) conduit that carries natural gas from Myanmar to neighbouring Thailand. Lawyers for the villagers claimed that the company knew or should have known that rights violations would occur during the building of the pipeline in the totalitarian state. Unocal, which did not directly operate the field owned by the Myanmar government, strongly denied any involvement in any human rights abuses. It has acknowledged that Myanmar troops forced villagers to carry ammunition and supplies for the military in the area, but denied that any of that labour involved the Yadana pipeline project. Unocal owned the pipeline jointly with Total, formerly TotalFinaElf, and the Thai and Myanmar governments. Total is being sued separately in Europe. The Yadana pipeline is now run by Thailand's PTT and Total. The villagers claim that Unocal has a 28.26 percent stake in the rights to proceeds from the pipeline. The federal lawsuit against Unocal was filed in Los Angeles in 1996, but was thrown out by a judge. As lawyers for the villagers planned their appeal to the Ninth Circuit, they also pursued their claims in a similar suit in a California state court. Lawyers for the villagers claimed in that case that Unocal set up "corporate shells" simply to avoid liability for the enslavement of villagers when the pipeline was built. But Unocal said it was protected by a law that bars plaintiffs from trying to tap a parent corporation if a subsidiary had valuable assets of its own, and the judge backed its stance, saying she was unwilling to force major changes in corporate law. YANGON (AP) - A 73-year-old dissident who was freed after nearly a decade in a Myanmar prison vowed Monday to continue campaigning for democracy in the military-ruled country. Thu Wai, the chairman of the now-defunct Democracy Party, was released Sunday along with the party's vice chairman, Htwe Myint, 76. They were among hundreds freed from Yangon's Insein prison and 5,070 freed nationwide in the third such general amnesty in recent weeks. It was not clear how many of those released were political prisoners. "A politician's life is complete only when he can do his duty. I will continue to do what I can for the good of the country," Thu Wai said in an interview. "The government claims that it is working for the emergence of democracy, and I believe that democracy is the only system that can bring prosperity and development to the country," he said. "Since we (government and pro-democracy politicians) are going in the same direction, things can work out if we work honestly for a change." The pair were imprisoned under the Emergency Provisions Act in 1995 for distributing anti-government pamphlets. They were sentenced to seven years each. "Authorities extended our prison term when our original jail terms expired in 2002," Thu Wai said. "The last extension was made on Dec. 10, Friday, and we were released on Sunday." Home Minister Brig. Gen. Maung Oo and police chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi told them on Sunday that their sentences had been suspended and that the National Intelligence Bureau, which had arrested and charged them, was dissolved, he said. The NIB was dissolved after the Oct. 19 ouster of former Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, who headed the bureau. Thu Wai was being treated for asthma and Htwe Myint for a heart problem and Parkinson's disease at a prison hospital before they were released. Htwe Myint said he thought he was being transferred to another prison when authorities asked him to pack his bags, and was "certain of my freedom only when the home minister told me about the release. ... I am still numb." They were allowed to read newspapers and other periodicals after the Red Cross visited the prison following a visit by U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, he said, describing it as a "privilege." Htwe Myint said he would no longer take part in "active politics" or "party politics," saying they are too full of intrigue. He did not elaborate. The government announced Saturday that 5,070 prisoners would be freed from jails around the country, formerly known as Burma. State radio and television said Monday the release of the prisoners from 41 prisons countrywide had been completed. There was no indication that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed from house arrest in the capital. She was detained after a bloody clash between her followers and government supporters in May 2003. YANGON (AP) - Myanmar's military junta has freed 14 members of the opposition party led by detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a party spokesman said Tuesday. The National League for Democracy members were among 70 political activists freed in three batches of prisoner releases over the past month, said NLD spokesman U Lwin. However, there was no indication that Suu Kyi would be freed from house arrest. She was detained after her followers clashed with government supporters in May last year. Two other pro-democracy activists _ Thu Wai, chairman of the now-defunct Democracy Party, and Htwe Myint, its deputy chairman _ were also freed in the latest prisoner release Sunday. They had been held at Insein prison in the capital, Yangon, since 1995 after being charged under the Emergency Provisions Act for "keeping anti-government pamphlets" such as clippings from Time and Newsweek magazines, Thu Wai said Monday. Myanmar's military government has freed a total of 14,318 prisoners, mostly criminals, in the recent amnesty. About 100 NLD members, including 11 senior representatives, remain in prison, according to a senior NLD member who spoke on condition of anonymity. They are among more than 1,000 political prisoners believed to be held by the junta. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current regime took power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It held elections in 1990, but refused to cede power after Suu Kyi's party won by a landslide. BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese court has upheld a death sentence against a Myanmar drug dealer who was arrested seven years ago with 3.7 kilograms (eight pounds) of heroin, a newpaper reported Monday. The Supreme Court of the western province of Sichuan issued the ruling Saturday against Jiao Ming, who was arrested in 1997 in Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, the Beijing Youth Daily said. The court rejected arguments that Jiao's life should be spared on the grounds that since he was caught in the midst of a drug deal, his heroin hadn't hurt Chinese society, the report said. The court also dismissed appeals by three of Jiao's Chinese accomplices, the newspaper said. One was sentenced to death while the others received life in prison. The report did not say when the executions would be carried out or give other details about Jiao. China executes hundreds of people every year on drug charges. Death sentences are automatically appealed but rarely overturned. Courts have the option of carrying out executions by lethal injection or a gunshot to the head or neck. Authorities say more than 95 percent of the heroin sold in China comes from the "Golden Triangle," where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. China has stepped up anti-drug cooperation with Myanmar and its other southern neighbors in recent years. Unocal Corp. said Monday that it would settle landmark human rights lawsuits brought by 15 villagers from Myanmar who claimed it was responsible for forced labor, rapes and a murder allegedly committed by soldiers along the route of a natural gas pipeline in the Southeast Asian nation. Terms of the settlement are still being negotiated, and neither Unocal nor lawyers representing the plaintiffs would disclose details. In a joint statement, the two sides said the El Segundo-based energy company would pay the plaintiffs an unspecified amount of money and fund programs to improve living conditions for people from the region surrounding the $1.2-billion pipeline and "who may have suffered hardships." The case against Unocal was seen as a key test for human rights activists who want to hold multinationals responsible in U.S. courts for atrocities committed in other countries. About three dozen similar suits have been filed in the last 11 years against other major U.S. corporations, including ChevronTexaco Corp., Ford Motor Co. and IBM Corp. None has gone to trial, and none has moved as far along in the judicial system as the Unocal suits, filed in 1996. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had been scheduled to hear arguments Monday on whether the case should go to trial. A settlement would be a breakthrough. "Nobody can treat these cases as a joke anymore," said Elliot Schrage, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who lectures on the litigation trend at Columbia University's business and law schools. U.S. business groups and the Bush administration have pressed the courts to turn back the tide of litigation from abroad, and other experts said a settlement in such a high-profile case could encourage lawyers to file more and broader human rights abuse suits. "Major multinationals are terrified," said Susan Aaronson, director of the Kenan Institute's Washington Center for Globalization Studies. "They are absolutely terrified." For eight years, Unocal vigorously defended itself against the claims that it turned a blind eye to violent acts allegedly committed by soldiers assigned to guard the pipeline, in which Unocal is a partner with the French oil company Total and the military junta that rules the country formerly known as Burma. Unocal was steadfast in its argument that it shouldn't be held liable for alleged abuses by the soldiers but acknowledged that they had a role in securing the pipeline corridor. On Monday, in the statement issued jointly with the plaintiffs' lawyers, Unocal didn't refer to its legal defense. A Unocal spokesman said a confidentiality agreement between the two sides prevented him from elaborating on the statement. Daniel Petrocelli, the head of Unocal's defense team, didn't return calls. The plaintiffs' lawyers said they were pleased with the outcome. "We're thrilled," said Katie Redford, co-founder of EarthRights International, a human rights organization that helped the villagers file suit. The statement, 123 words long, quoted Unocal as reaffirming "its principle that the company respects human rights in all its activities and commits to enhance its educational programs to further this principle." Heidi Quante, a representative of the Burma Project in San Francisco, said the fact that Unocal had reached an agreement "speaks louder than any words they've spoken heretofore." "You would not settle if you did not think you were guilty," she said. The agreement is expected to be finalized in a month or two. The company and the plaintiffs are to report back to the 9th Circuit Court if the negotiations drag on past Feb. 1. Unocal wouldn't be the first U.S. company to resolve a human rights case out of court. In 2002, for example, dozens of retailers, including Gap Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co., settled suits filed in U.S. courts by factory workers from Saipan who claimed that they made clothes in sweatshops. In the Unocal case, the plaintiffs, who lived in the remote region near the pipeline, allege that they and their relatives were forced to help clear a path through thick jungle for the project, laboring in tropical heat with little rest, food or water. They claim that the soldiers were brutal, murdering a baby to retaliate for her father's escape from forced labor and raping a girl and her great-aunt, who had ventured close to the pipeline to retrieve a pig for a Christmas feast. Out of fear for their safety, the plaintiffs live in hiding in Southeast Asia. They were allowed to file suit in the U.S. as John and Jane Does to protect their anonymity. In interviews with The Times two years ago, several of them recounted what they suffered during the construction of the pipeline project. "Until the pipeline came, we were free," the plaintiff known as Jane Doe 1 told The Times. "Burmese soldiers were fairy tales. We never saw them. But they came with the pipeline." The resolution of the Unocal case could shape the futures of the suits pending against the other corporations. All of them were filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a 215-year-old law revived in the late 1970s to bring suits in the U.S. against foreign dictators and multinational corporations over alleged abuses abroad. Two years ago, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court ruled that Unocal should face trial, saying it found reason to believe that the company "gave assistance and encouragement to the Myanmar military." The company had been appealing the ruling. In June, in another case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Alien Tort Claims Act, ruling that foreigners could file lawsuits in U.S. courts to address some human rights abuses overseas. The high court didn't, however, spell out whether corporations could be held liable for an indirect role in such abuses. The other human rights suits pending against multinational companies involve alleged abuses in Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria and other countries with poor human rights records. China, the world's most populous country and increasingly a key manufacturing partner for American producers of a host of goods, isn't on the list. The Kenan Institute's Aaronson said a Unocal settlement could add to the worries of U.S. companies doing business there. "Every company feels it has to be in China, but they have no real means of controlling their multitude of suppliers," she said. "So that's the new frontier." The two developments could well see the pipeline through, much to the chagrin of Iranians who have been pushing for a similar pipeline through Pakistan for over a decade. That pipeline remains bogged down not only by the rollercoaster India-Pakistan relations, but also on account of concerns over the physical safety of the infrastrucutre in Pak territory. MEA sources said the Myanmar Army crackdown on rebel camps along the Bangladesh border earlier this month was aimed at "sanitising the area to ensure a safe passage for the pipeline" and was in line with the assurance given by Senior Gen Than Shwe during his November visit. Simultaneously, Dhaka is emitting encouraging signals by talking about an opportunity-based tariff. This means India will have to share savings with Bangladesh as the other options of an undersea pipeline or onland through the treacherous northeastern region will cost many times more and physically not feasible. The Bangladesh proposal means India will pay a little extra. But even then transportation costs will be much lower than shipping gas as LNG as it involves manufacturing processes of liquefaction and reconversion. OVL and Gail together hold 30 per cent in a huge gasfield in Myanmar. They are now considering building LNG terminal for transporting the gas in ships. The extra pipeline tariff will be offset as this pipeline will also unlock ONGC's Tripura gas besides bringing Delhi and Dhaka closer. YANGON, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- The Myanmar government will privatize a dozen more state-owned factories in the country under its privatization plan, the local Business Tank reported in its latest issue. The factories, under the Ministry of Industry-1, include a wheat mill, garment, soya sauce and vinegar, biscuit and tile factories, most of which are situated in Yangon and some in Mon and Shan states, the government's Privatization Commission was quoted as saying. Myanmar has since January 1995 been implementing a privatization plan for its state-owned economic enterprises including those nationalized in the 1960s in an effort to systematically turn them into more effective enterprises, China's Xinhua News Agency repeorted on Monday. The plan, which has been implemented by the commission, is carried out by auctioning and leasing or establishing joint ventures with local and foreign investors. These enterprises include rice mills, saw mills, cinemas, hotels, biscuit and garment factories, timber shops and land plots. It is estimated that since the privatization programme started, over 100 such state-owned enterprises have been privatized. According to official statistics, there are over 53,000 factories in Myanmar, of which 1,600 are state-owned, while over 50,000 are private-run with the rest being cooperative-operated ones. Meanwhile, the private sector has set up 19 industrial zones across the country to enhance industrial production. -- BERNAMA SINGAPORE : Police have arrested 5 illegal immigrants trying to enter Singapore by swimming in through the north coast, off Admiralty Road West. The 5 men were spotted swimming from Johor using inflated black trash bags on Monday at about 9.40pm. They are Myanmar nationals aged between 23 and 42 years old. They will be charged in court on Wednesday and could be jailed up to 6 months and receive at least 3 strokes of the cane. They could also be fined up to $6,000. This year, 152 have been arrested trying to enter Singapore illegally. Out of this 128 tried to enter the island by swimming. - CNA Myanmar has expressed willingness to provide rice at a reasonable price to Sri Lanka. This follows a discussion held between visiting Premier Mahinda Rajapakse and Myanmar Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Soe Win. The discussion focused on the economic, political and cultural relations between the two countries. The discussion also focused on the increasing prices of rice in Sri Lanka and accordingly, the Myanmar Premier had expressed willingness to provide rice to Sri Lanka at a reasonable price. Following Myanmar's gesture, Premier Rajapakse telephoned Minister of Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Jeyaraj Fernandopulle regarding this offer. Accordingly, measures are being taken to import 2000 MT of rice to Sri Lanka from Myanmar. Premier Rajapakse's visit marked a significant milestone in the bilatareal relations between the two countries. His visit comes after 29 years since the visit by then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1976. The World Buddhist Summit was the main event in Premier Rajapakse's visit. Addressing the Forum, Premier Rajapakse stressed that these forums will be helpful to alert the sensible Buddhist to organise themselves to avert erosion of Buddhism and to address the glaring problems facing the contemporary Buddhist. "It will also help to reinvigorate the Maha Sanga so that there will prevail a progressive and a learned leadership, to propagate the Dhamma." he added. Premier Rajapakse also said; 'It is my distinct honour to be here to attend the World Buddhist Summit today. May I thank the Government of the Union of Myanmar for organizing this most auspicious and timely event and I wish to thank you for inviting me for the Summit. 'I firmly believe that such a Forum will be helpful to alert the sensible Buddhist to organise themselves to avert erosion of Buddhism and to address the glaring problems facing the contemporary Buddhist. It will also help to reinvigorate the Maha Sangha so that there will prevail a progressive and a learned leadership, to propagate the Dhamma. 'Regarding the relations between the two countries, Myanmar and Sri lanka are steeped in history based on Theravada Buddhism. Our relations date back to the 4th century, when the Myanmar monks had frequently visited the Maha Vihara of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka to learn orthodox traditions and to continue in their own country and the perseverance of the Bhikkus of Sri Lanka, that it was made possible to produce the written Tripitaka, which was earlier preserved only through oral tradition. Since this time, there has been no turning back and the two countries were intertwined with the golden thread of Theravada Buddhism. Therefore, it is our fervent hope and the wish of the Government and the people of Sri Lanka to cherish and to further consolidate the cultural bonds that had prevailed between the two countries over the centuries. 'Further, I am pleased to observe the manner in which the Summit has brought unity among Theravada Buddhist countries paving the way for mutual cooperation among the Theravada countries. Let this Summit be a reminder to the world that Buddhism is not only a religion but a whole civilization with a rich cultural heritage, and a code of ethics having the ability to mould human beings to face the daunting tasks of the modern day. Let this Summit be remembered as a forum, which projected Buddhism as a dynamic force, which has influenced the receptive mind for the last two thousand five hundred years, and projecting its relevance in the present day's context. At a time when we are getting ready to conclude the Summit, I firmly believe that we are bound by strong Buddhist ethics, the premier said in his address. As part of the country`s infrastructural construction, the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port will be built with offshore and deep-sea fishing industry to be established in addition to sea lobster farming, the New Light of Myanmar said, quoting member of the State Peace and Development Council Lieutenant-General Khin Maung Than, who toured the region recently. Kyaukphyu is an area where exists oil and gas resource potential also. According to earlier official report, one of the onshore blocks in the region is under oil and gas exploration activities by a consortium comprising two Chinese and one Singaporean companies under contract with Myanmar. Meanwhile, Myanmar and Thailand are also building a deep-sea port at Dawei, southern Tanintharyi division, under an economic cooperation strategy (ECS) of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. The seaport project and a Dawei- Kachanburi road link are being carried out in one package together with a 1,360-km trilateral highway project between India, Myanmar and Thailand, and is expected to take at least two years to complete. YANGON, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa ended his five-day official visit here Tuesday with someachievements in bilateral relations with Myanmar. During his visit in Myanmar, Rajapaksa met with Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior-General Than Shwe and had discussions with his Myanmar counterpart Lieutenant-General Soe Win on economic, political and cultural relations between the two countries. The Myanmar side agreed to export 2,000 metric tons of rice to Sri Lanka at a reasonable price to help solve its rice shortage, according to the Sri Lankan sources. On the occasion, Rajapaksa attended the closing ceremony of theMyanmar-hosted three-day World Buddhist Summit along with Soe Win and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Lu lay Sreng. He stressed at the ceremony that the summit will help the Buddhists to organize themselves to address the glaring problems facing the contemporaryBuddhists. Rajapaksa arrived here on last Friday for the visit at the invitation of Soe Win. It is the first visit to the country by a Sri Lankan leader in nearly three decades since 1976. In February 1996, Myanmar and Sri Lanka established the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation. So far, Sri Lanka has injected one million US dollars in Myanmar since 1988, according to official statistics. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is reported to be making preparation for opening an indirect air link with Myanmar via Bangkok in an effortto promote their bilateral ties and tourism industry. Myanmar and Sri Lanka are members of the subregional grouping of BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand-Economic Cooperation), which was originally formed with four countries in June 1997 and later joined by Myanmar in August the same year. The grouping expanded its membership to include Nepal and Bhutan at the first BIMST-EC summit in Bangkok in July this year. YANGON, Dec 14, 2004 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A consortium comprising two Chinese and one Singaporean companies reached two more production-sharing contracts with Myanmar here Tuesday on cooperation in offshore oil and natural gas exploration. Under the contracts, signed between the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) Myanmar Ltd of China, Golden Aaron Pte. Ltd of Singapore, China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation as well as state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, oil and gas exploration will be carried out at over This is the second time for the consortium to reach the contracts with Myanmar, while the first was signed in last October on similar activities at onshore Block-M of 7,760 square- kilometers in the Rakhine state's Kyaukpyu area. With 19 onshore and three main large offshore oil and gas fields, Myanmar possesses a total of 2.46 trillion cubic meters ( TCM) of gas reserve and 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserve in the country's offshore and onshore areas, according to official statistics. The statistics also show that Myanmar produced 9.79 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas and 7.2 million barrels of crude oil in 2003. Gas export during the year Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988, such investment in the sector had reached 2.5 billion US dollars as of the end of 2003, the figures XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. The Alien Labour Management Committee decided yesterday to repatriate more than 9,000 pregnant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia despite calls from the National Human Rights Commission to respect their human dignity, rights and freedom. The panel, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Phinij Jarusombat, made its decision after the Public Health Ministry reported that 9,383 female workers, or 3.5% of the total who received health check-ups at hospitals, were pregnant, as it foresaw problems if they were allowed to give birth in Thailand, a source said. The source said the National Security Council had opposed the resolution on the grounds that Thailand could be harshly criticised by international human rights organisations as a result. A total of 691,712 Burmese, Lao and Cambodian workers, or 54.92% of the 1,284,920 who registered for employment, have received health check-ups. The report said 5,399 had tuberculosis, 3,092 syphilis, 375 worms, 273 malaria, 202 elephantiasis and eight leprosy. The source said the majority on the Phinij committee also wanted these sick workers to be repatriated. Wasant Panich, a human rights commissioner, said article 4 of the constitution guarantees full protection of the medical rights and human dignity of any person living in the kingdom. ``Even though these people are not Thai citizens, they cannot be discriminated against,'' Mr Wasant said. Mr Wasant said Thailand also risked being condemned by the international community given that it is a signatory to a treaty to eliminate discrimination based on race or country of origin. ``This is not about a few alien workers but almost 10,000. Sending them home could be dangerous for us,'' he said. Mr Wasant said the authorities should not cite security as the only reason to justify their violations of alien workers' rights, especially as they could not even be considered as illegal as they had registered with the Labour Ministry. The first two months in power of the reshuffled military junta in Burma provide no confidence that anything in that country is changing for the better. In fact, apart from the changes in people near the top, there is no evidence things will change at all. The regime continues to issue statements that it intends to establish a democratic regime, but at a Burmese pace. The lack of action and the continual stonewalling of the generals is a disservice to Burma and to its neighbours. The ``new'' junta came to power after the ouster of its prime minister and No 3 power, General Khin Nyunt. The ouster of the former military intelligence chief is still unexplained, although spokesmen in Burma have mentioned illness, corruption and incompetence among the possible reasons. Gen Khin Nyunt served as the prime minister, and he and former foreign minister Win Aung were touted as the most open, most liberal members of the regime. Everything is relative, of course. While they served, Burma continued as one of the most politically, economically and physically brutal nations. If the reshuffled leadership is no worse, it is no better. It has conducted a highly publicised release of thousands of jail inmates, but few political prisoners. On Monday, the regime claimed _ there is no way to check such facts in Burma _ the jail doors opened for 5,070 prisoners at the weekend. Two political prisoners were among them _ both in their 70s and imprisoned even though the sentences imposed by kangaroo courts had run out. In America, Unocal has agreed to stop insisting it knows nothing about the mistreatment of Burmese by their government. The oil company will pay serious compensation to villagers who claimed the construction of a pipeline directly caused forced labour, murder and rape by Burmese government officials and military forces. One might credit the regime for such releases and suspect the new leadership is trying to make up for injustices to thousands of Burmese, except that reality gets in the way. The leaders locked up solely for their views against dictatorship remain locked up; the generals have let it be known they will remain in prison or under house arrest. The acknowledged leader of democratic forces, Aung San Suu Kyi, had her term of forced detention extended by a year. Just to let the world know who was in charge, the announcement of Ms Suu Kyi's extra-legal home imprisonment was made during the annual summit of Asean, the only international group that treats the dictatorship with respect. Not that all Asean members agree with such treatment. Some leaders are worried that Burma hurts Asean and its image. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda wants Asean to review its policy of fixed rotation that will permit Burma to be chairman of the 10-nation group in 2006. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar of Malaysia _ due to become chairman next year and then hand the honour to Burma _ said Rangoon may forfeit its right to head the association unless it makes concrete progress towards establishing democracy. The US is likely to boycott any Asean meetings that Burma might chair. The European Union leads sanctions against Burma. Among Asean countries, only Thailand openly supports Rangoon. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited Burma last week and heard the case for stonewalling from junta leader Senior General Than Shwe. Mr Thaksin said the Burmese fear trouble if they release Ms Suu Kyi. They have released her three times and there has been trouble each time. The Thai leader believes it is reasonable to detain Ms Suu Kyi, and hopes everyone will give the generals lots of time to move to democracy. This would be understandable if the generals took some steps. It seems obvious from their 16 years in power that the junta will take any action necessary to save itself. Two months after the ouster of Gen Khin Nyunt, the game of musical chairs continues with the same old Burmese song. |
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