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BurmaNet News: October 15, 2000
- Subject: BurmaNet News: October 15, 2000
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 02:03:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
_________October 15, 2000 Issue # 1640__________
INSIDE BURMA _______
*Asiaweek: Schools have reopened and Ne Win's wife, Ni Ni Myint, is
*DVB : SPDC closes universities & colleges
*Reuters: Burma threatens "meddlesome diplomats"
*Jane's Intelligence Review: Myanmar's forgotten minefields
*The Nation: Drug programme extended
*Kyodo: U.S. urges Myanmar's Wa not to proceed with relocation
*Bangkok Post: UNITED NATIONS - Top refugee official to see border camp
*The Star (Malaysia): Myanmar skipper jailed and fined
*Free Burma Coalition Minneapolis: Divestment Passes in Minneapolis
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
Asiaweek: Schools have reopened and Ne Win's wife, Ni Ni Myint, is happy
OCTOBER 20, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 41
By ROGER MITTON Yangon
Something wonderful happened in Myanmar recently: The nation's
universities reopened. They have been functioning normally since June
after being shut down by the ruling military junta in late 1996
following student protests. Young Burmese are now thronging the
campuses, chattering, flirting, riding their bicycles, taking
photographs ù and, yes, even studying. At the University of Yangon, Ni
Ni Myint, director of the Historical Research Center, gazes across the
sun-dappled lawns and tree-lined lanes of the busy campus. "I am so
happy that the students are back at last," she says. "Since 1988, the
universities have been open on and off and I was very sad about it. I
hope they stay open now."
The decision to reopen the schools may be an acknowledgment of the
importance of educating the younger generation, but it is also an
indication of the junta's confidence that it is in control. The campuses
have long been a hotbed for antigovernment agitations. Students were at
the center of a massive popular uprising against then-strongman Ne Win
in 1988 and thousands of them joined dissident Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy. The NLD swept the national elections in
1990, but the current regime refused to honor the results and put Suu
Kyi under house arrest.
The standoff between the junta on one side and Suu Kyi and the students
on the other has continued ever since. But now, with the NLD weakened by
defections and detentions, and the students themselves willing to
compromise, the junta may have decided that the time was right to open
the university doors again.
Not that the grip has been totally relaxed. To ensure the students are
kept in check, the rulers have taken elaborate precautions. They noted
how other capitals ù such as Seoul, with its long history of violent
student protests ù located their new universities far from the city
center. And they observed how their ASEAN colleagues in Brunei, Malaysia
and Singapore depoliticized their student bodies ù notably Kuala Lumpur,
whose Colleges & Universities Act effectively bans all mass political
activity without official permission (rarely given). So the junta
followed suit, building new campuses in the countryside and laying down
stiff rules for extracurricular activities.
Some 7,000 graduate students now pursue their studies in the capital's
central campus, where Ni Ni is based. The potentially more antsy
undergraduates have been relocated to two far-off campuses, about an
hour from Yangon. "We are not expecting any trouble," says Deputy
Education Minister Myo Nyunt. "The students are quite happy to be back."
One of them agrees: "I'm glad not to be working in a department store
anymore. I'm happy to be back studying."
Ni Ni too is elated that she will once again be interacting with
students. "My husband did not like me to get involved with students,"
she says. "He did not understand that I wanted to teach so much." Her
husband is none other than Ne Win himself, who seized power in 1962 and
ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for three decades. One of his first acts
as dictator was to suppress a disturbance at the University of Yangon
and shut down the campus for a year, setting a precedent for the
numerous school closures in the intervening decades. Thus the reopening
has a special resonance for Ni Ni, who is now estranged from her
Ni Ni is currently working on a multivolume modern history of Myanmar.
She remarks: "Some say: 'Oh, Ni Ni, the wife of Ne Win, she must be
rewriting history.' I get very angry when they say that. It will be
balanced and objective."
As for the students, they seem to have been pacified in the short run.
They are not likely to be enticed into political activity if it will
jeopardize their degrees. On the other hand, their minds are becoming
active once again ù they are mingling together, talking to one another,
sharing thoughts and ideas. In a Yangon cafeteria last month, when Suu
Kyi appeared on CNN news, a student quickly turned up the sound; his
peers fell silent and they all listened avidly. It is not hard to see
where their thoughts might lead.
DVB : SPDC closes universities & colleges
Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 13th October
It has been learned that Dagon university, culture university, and
teachers training colleges have been closed yesterday, 12th October,
under the emergency act because anti-SPDC [State Peace and Development
Council] government wall posters were found posted to the walls. DVB
[Democratic Voice of Burma] correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed this
[Myint Maung Maung] The wall posters were about opposition to SPDC's
modern education system and administrative machinery and the call for
freer university education system. The posters were peeled off by
Rangoon Division Riot Police at about 1130. Rangoon Division Deputy
Police Special Branch and special branch officials are investigating the
incident and are spread out in the campuses. At about 1300 [local time],
Maj-Gen Khin Maung Than, chairman of Rangoon Division Peace and
Development Council, ordered the university and colleges closed under
the emergency act. Riot police and security forces are spread out at the
campuses and no one is allowed to either enter or leave. Because of
rumours of a student protest at Dagon university and culture university
on 29th September, tight security was imposed at the universities till
8th October. Although they made thorough checks in and around the
campuses the situation remains clear so the riot police were withdrawn
on 9th October. A Rangoon resident stated today that the wall poster
appeared after the riot police left.
Reuters: Burma threatens "meddlesome diplomats"
By Aung Hla Tun
Bangkok (14.10.2000) - Burma's military government warned United States
and British diplomats on Saturday against meddling in its internal
affairs and suggested they could be thrown out of the country if they
did not behave.
In their second official broadside against Britain and the United States
in two days, the ruling generals accused envoys from Washington and
London of supporting Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her opposition
National League from Democracy (NLD).
The Kyemon newspaper, regarded as an official mouthpiece of Yangon's
military authorities, said the diplomats had visited the homes of NLD
leaders no less than 30 times between September 2 and 13.
"Those under the guise of diplomats are distributing false information
and news to the BBC, VOA (Voice of America) ... broadcasting stations,
which are stooges of the colonialists and nests of Burmese exiles," said
"It is common practice to declare meddlesome diplomats and those who are
engaged in espionage as 'persona non grata'," the newspaper said in a
Kyemon and other Burmese newspapers usually reflect official views and
concerns but threats published by them are often not followed by
US and British diplomats were not available for comment.
The Burmese government has become increasingly frustrated by the
activities of Suu Kyi and the NLD in recent months since the opposition
party stepped up a campaign to highlight its demand for democracy and
human rights in the impoverished country.
Suu Kyi, 55, has been under de facto house arrest in her home in Yangon
since September 22 when she was prevented from travelling by train to
Mandalay to meet party members.
Since then she has had her telephone cut and diplomatic access barred,
local residents and diplomats say.
The only person allowed to see her has been UN special envoy Razali
Ismail, who met her twice this week during a four-day visit to Burma
aimed at easing political tensions.
Other NLD leaders have been detained or kept locked in their homes and
the military has issued a series of pronouncements through its
newspapers suggesting it may be planning a decisive crackdown to silence
Landlords have also served the NLD with an eviction notice to vacate its
offices in Yangon, sparking fears for the future of the party.
"The situation is really extremely bleak," one diplomat said this week.
"The NLD's leaders have been silenced, a lot of key people have been
arrested, and they may lose their headquarters. There is really nothing
to be positive about at the moment."
An official commentary carried in two official newspapers on Friday said
the NLD, which won elections by a landslide in 1990 but has never been
allowed to govern, was being controlled by US and British
"Diplomats of the international colonialist group are giving
instructions on the affairs of the party and this is against the
political parties' registration law," the newspapers said.
"The persons called diplomats from the US embassy and British embassy
are attentively and earnestly arranging things for and giving
instructions on political and organisational activities of the political
party which is opposing and attacking the incumbent government of the
state." - Reuters
The Nation: Drug programme extended
Oct 13, 2000.
BY PIYANART SRIVALO
THE United Nations will extend by two years its alternative development
project in one of Burma's prime opium growing areas under the control of
the ethnic Wa army, PM's Office Minister Jurin Laksanavisit told
Pino Arlacchi, executive director of the UN Drug Control and Crime
Prevention, informed Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai of the decision during
a meeting yesterday, Jurin said.
The five year plan, which was fully implemented last year at a cost of
US$15.5 million (Bt668 million), is targeting an opium producing area
covering about 200,000 hectares and involving about 260 villages, or
6,250 households. The territory is controlled by the United Wa State
Army (UWSA), described by the US government as the world's largest
The UN-sponsored project, situated in lower Burma's Shan State, covers
only a small portion of the Wa-controlled area.
Nevertheless, said Col Kyaw Thein, a senior member of Burma's powerful
Office of Strategic Studies, the UWSA has committed itself to making the
area under its control opium free by 2005.
The Wa-controlled area stretches along Burma's northern border with
China down towards territory adjacent to Chiang Mai.
The UNDCP also provides support to opium eradication programmes
initiated by local communities in the northern Wa and Kokang regions, as
well as providing irrigation systems, high-yielding rice seed and
improving access to roads.
Thai drug officials, on the other hand, said more attention needs to be
given to the drastic increase
in the production of methamphetamine pills, millions of which are being
produced cheaply in Wa-controlled areas and flooded into Thailand on a
Jane's Intelligence Review: Myanmar's forgotten minefields
October 1, 2000
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan compiled the Myanmar chapter of the Landmine
Monitor Report 2000. Andrew Selth is the author of 'Transforming
theTatmadaw: The Burmese Armed Forces Since 1988'.
On the subject of landmines, media attention is rarely focused on
Myanmar. Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan and Andrew Selth examine the country's
manufacture and indiscriminate use of mines and IEDs.
THERE ARE an estimated 120 million-plus uncleared anti-personnel (AP)
landmines around the world, scattered through more than 60 countries. In
all the literature produced on this subject to date and in discussions
of the problem in international forums, mention is rarely made of
Myanmar (formerly Burma). This is despite the fact that anti-personnel
landmines have been, and are still being, manufactured and laid in large
numbers in that country. Indeed, the number of landmine casualties now
surpasses Myanmar's mine-affected neighbour, Cambodia, which has been
the subject of much greater world attention.
Landmine use in Myanmar
The use of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has been a
feature of armed conflict in Myanmar since it regained its independence
from the UK in 1948. Before the 1960s, fighting between the Myanmar
armed forces (Tatmadaw) and the country's many ideological, ethnic and
religious insurgent groups was bitter. There has also been a
long-running war between the Myanmar armed forces and a number of
narcotics-funded private armies. All sides, however, found it difficult
to obtain regular or plentiful supplies of modern munitions. This
prevented the extensive use of commercially produced landmines and
forced the protagonists to rely more on IEDs. These still resulted in a
large number of casualties, but they tended to be less effective and had
more limited operational lives.
After the 1960s, landmines became easier to obtain, and their rate of
usage increased. The Tatmadaw was able to obtain supplies of AP and
(probably) anti-vehicle (AV) mines from its own arms factories,
established with German assistance during the 1960s and 1970s. After the
military coup, led by General Ne Win in 1962, Myanmar still received
modest shipments of munitions from friendly countries like the USA.
These almost certainly included supplies of landmines.
Around the same time, China increased its supply of arms (including
landmines) to the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) guerrillas on Myanmar's
northeastern border. Other insurgent groups were able to purchase
landmines on the black market in Thailand, and reportedly from members
of the Thai armed forces and police. The insurgents financed these deals
by selling precious stones, jade and narcotics, or by taxing
Myanmar's two paramount intelligence agencies, the Office of Strategic
Studies (OSS) and the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence
(DDSI), claim that landmines are no longer being used by the Myanmar
Army as there is no need for them.
The Myanmar government's website seeks to portray the civil war as a
thing of the past, stressing that many of the armed insurgencies have
collapsed or that they have entered into a cease-fire agreement with the
central government. While the CPB did collapse in 1989, and notorious
drug lord Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army (MTA) surrendered in 1996, other
armed groups have yet to secure more than a verbally agreed and tenuous
cease-fire. Like the Mon National Army, they keep their arsenals and
maintain their right to continue armed struggle if negotiations do not
Other groups like the Karen National Union and its armed wing, the Karen
National Liberation Army (KNLA), which have never entered into a
cease-fire agreement with Rangoon, are portrayed by the government as
weak and marginal with little capacity for military operations.
Despite these official denials, the manufacture and use of anti-
personnel landmines in Myanmar has grown significantly in recent years.
The Tatmadaw appears to be placing increasing reliance on landmines to
defeat insurgents, perhaps capitalising on the greater availability of
modern AP mines from a new factory built in central Myanmar with Chinese
assistance about two years ago.
Mines are being used extensively against the KNLA in its areas of
operation in both Kayah State and the Taninthayi Division, against the
Shan State Army (SSA) within Shan State, and against the Karenni Army in
The Na sa ka, a special division of the Tatmadaw engaged in operations
along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh, maintains an extensive minefield
virtually the entire length of the land frontier. This minefield has
claimed numerous civilian and military casualties. Further north, along
Myanmar's border with the northeastern states of India, the Tatmadaw has
also laid mines as part of its counter-insurgency operations against the
Chin National Army.
The insurgent groups are also using landmines and IEDs more than before.
In particular, the KNLA is relying heavily on them in its operations
against the Tatmadaw, prompted in part by the fall of the Karens' fixed
bases at Manerplaw and Kawmura in 1995 and the KNLA's subsequent
reversion to mobile guerrilla tactics. Landmines also make up for their
inferiority in numbers and arms, especially since the split in the KNLA
(which produced the pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in 1994)
and the introduction by the junta of a massive military expansion and
Methods and results
Landmines and IEDs have been used by all military forces in Myanmar, for
both offensive and defensive purposes. As a general rule, the scarcity
of resources has not permitted the mining of large tracts of land, but
mines have been laid outside the perimeter of both permanent and
temporary camps to warn of approaching enemies and to defend against
attack. They have been widely used along lines of communication, such as
railways, roads and pathways, to hinder the movement of troops and
Landmines have been used to deny territory to the other side and to
prevent the use of routes across the international border. Mines have
also been laid to encourage local villagers either to leave particular
areas, or to stay away from villages that have already been cleared or
destroyed. The latter policy seems to be part of a deliberate and
widespread campaign by the Myanmar Army to resettle local populations in
an effort to deny insurgent groups food, funds, recruits and
As a result of all these developments Myanmar has suffered a large
number of casualties from landmines over the years. Reliable statistics
are difficult to obtain but, according to the US State Department, in
the early 1990s casualties from landmines were thought to account for
about 15% of all military losses in Myanmar.
Combatants have not been the only ones killed or maimed. So have many
local villagers, particularly in the border areas where the fighting has
lasted longer and usually been the most vicious. In 1993 it was
estimated that each year in Myanmar over 1,500 people were fitted with
artificial limbs as a result of landmine explosions. Many more never
received any attention. This number has declined since the negotiation
of cease-fires among most insurgent groups, but casualties from
landmines remain high. According to an official based in Rangoon, most
landmine victims now come from Karen State.
Greatly exacerbating this problem has been the poor management of the
minefields laid. Both the Myanmar Army and various insurgent groups have
failed to keep accurate or comprehensive records of where mines have
been placed. Local villagers are often not informed of their whereabouts
for security reasons. During the fall of the KNLA's base at Manerplaw,
for example, the militant All Burma Students Democratic Front revealed
that all casualties resulted from their own defensive minefield, not
enemy fire. Even government soldiers often do not know where their mines
have been laid.
Proper maps are rarely produced and often, when a military unit leaves
an area, precise details about the local minefields are not passed on.
Even when this does occur, the smaller plastic mines now used by the
Myanmar Army can be washed away during heavy rainfall to new, unknown
One saving grace in the past was that the landmines used were made of
metal and were liable to rust, rendering them inoperable after one or
two rainy seasons. The batteries required for detonation by some
insurgent mines rarely lasted more than six months. Also, the wooden
stakes used to set up some kinds of AP fragmentation mines had a
relatively short life in areas where the climate was hot and wet.
According to one government source, some mines used by the Myanmar Army
during the 1960s and 1970s became unserviceable because the explosive
charge tended to be eaten by ants.
The more modern mines now being used by the Rangoon regime, however,
have much longer lives. They are made from more durable materials, do
not rely on batteries and remain serviceable much longer after being
laid. Also, it appears that, where possible, stake AP mines are being
placed on metal spikes so they remain effective for longer periods.
Plastic lightweight mines are also being used by insurgent groups -
mainly Chinese Type 72 AP blast mines and US-made M-14 mines (or copies
of the M-14 from Vietnam and Singapore).
Mines used in Myanmar
A wide range of landmines appear to have been used in Myanmar over the
years. Details are hard to obtain, but it would appear that before 1988
the Myanmar Army had access to common Eastern bloc AP mines such as the
POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M stake-mounted AP fragmentation mines. It is highly
likely that Myanmar also imported (or was given as part of military aid
packages) a range of other AP and AV land mines. These would have
probably come from countries like the UK, USA, the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia, all of which provided arms to Myanmar at one time or
another. For example, it is believed that the Myanmar Army was familiar
with US-manufactured M-18 Claymore mines, M-16 bounding fragmentation
mines, M-14 AP blast mines and M-7 AV mines. It is also believed that
Yugoslavia provided AV mines to Myanmar in the 1950s and possibly the
During this period the insurgents bought US, Soviet and Chinese mines on
the black market or, as in the case of the CPB, were directly supplied
by China. The latter shipments appear to have included large quantities
of Type 58 AP blast mines. This is a direct copy of the Russian PMN
mine. The Chinese probably also supplied the CPB with their own versions
of the POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M stake mines, known as the Type 58 and Type 59
respectively. There has been at least one report of a Chinese Type 59
'shoebox' AP mine (a copy of the Russian PMD-6 mine) also being used.
Since the Myanmar armed forces took back direct control of the country
in 1988, the Rangoon regime (known initially as the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, and after 1997 as the State Peace and Development
Council) has faced an arms embargo at the hands of its traditional
suppliers. As a consequence, it has been forced to rely on a much wider
range of sources for its arms and military equipment.
Most mines have come from China, but Singapore, Pakistan, Israel,
Russia, Poland, Yugoslavia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) and Portugal are also known to have sold arms or ammunition to
Myanmar's military regime over the past 12 years. China and Singapore
are the most likely of these countries to have included landmines in
their arms shipments to Myanmar.
There is evidence that since 1989, when the BCP collapsed and bilateral
relations with China rapidly improved, Beijing has supplied Myanmar with
AP landmines. In addition to those types noted above, one source in
Rangoon has suggested that these shipments have included the Type 69
Chinese AP bounding fragmentation mine, similar to the US-made M-16,
popularly known as the 'Bouncing Betty'. Both US and Chinese mines of
this type have been used in recent operations by the Tatmadaw in the
Taninthayi Division. The Chinese Type 72 AP blast mine has also been
used against insurgents in recent years, as well as an (as yet
unidentified) Italian-designed AP blast mine. Mines manufactured by
Singapore and Israel are also reported to have been used in Myanmar, but
this has not yet been confirmed.
The military regime in Rangoon, however, has never been comfortable
relying on foreign countries for its military supplies. Since the
mid-1950s it has built up a network of its own defence industries,
capable of producing a range of arms and ammunition, including
landmines. There is evidence that this capability has recently been
For some years before 1988 Myanmar had been able to produce its own
landmines at a German-built factory in the regime's heavily guarded
defence industrial complex on the western side of the Taninthayi
(Irrawaddy) River, near Pyay. Most appear to have been copies of proven
Eastern bloc stake and pressure AP mines, known locally as lu-that (AP)
mines, but some AV mines were probably also produced.
About two years ago, however, a secret agreement was reportedly signed
with China for the construction of a completely new factory near
Meikhtila in central Myanmar, solely to produce landmines. Although
sources disagree on the progress made on the factory since then, it
seems that serial production of some mine types has begun.
From the limited information available, this factory is believed to
produce at least five types of mines, designated MM-1 through to MM- 5.
The MM-1 is essentially the Chinese Type 59 AP stake-mounted mine, with
slight modifications to the detonator and weather cap. The MM-2 design
closely follows that of China's Type 58 AP blast mine. Two variants of
the MM-2 have been confirmed. The characteristics of the MM-3, MM-4 and
MM-5 landmines are still unknown, although it is possible that one is an
Myanmar produces a shi-twe directional mine, possibly a copy of the M-18
Claymore, which may have been given a 'MM' designation. Following the
practice adopted by Myanmar's Defence Industries in the past, these
designations probably mean Myanmar Mine 1, Myanmar Mine 2 and so on.
Most informed Myanmar watchers believe that China is still providing
technical assistance and spare parts for the Meikhtila factory, as well
as some of the key components used in the manufacture of these mines.
Singapore (which manufactures its own range of plastic-bodied AP and AV
mines, including some under licence) may have assisted in the
establishment and operation of this plant. Singapore is secretly
assisting Myanmar in other areas of arms manufacture, for example the
production of a new family of infantry weapons. Claims that it is
helping to produce landmines in Myanmar cannot be proved.
Most insurgent groups maintained workshops in which to repair and
manufacture weapons, including landmines. After the collapse of the BCP
in 1989, Khun Sa probably had the greatest capacity of all Myanmar's
insurgent groups and narcotics-based armies to manufacture and lay
landmines. When he surrendered in 1996 the Myanmar Army took possession
of, and reportedly destroyed, over 2,000 landmines that had been stored
at his Ho Mong base camp. Most appear to have been AP mines, but Khun Sa
also had a stock of large AV mines that he claimed was to protect his
camp from "external aggression".
It is not known what specific kinds of mines were being manufactured or
held in the MTA's inventory, but they are most likely to have been
copies of the simpler, locally produced AP mines, like the POMZ-2M.
Other insurgent groups have not had the funds, expertise or facilities
to make landmines of this kind, or on this scale. Most have tended to
rely on booby-traps and other IEDs. Explosives from quarries in Myanmar
or neighbouring states have been obtained and placed in any available
container - usually plastic pipes or bamboo links. Sometimes glass
bottles have been used as glass readily lends itself to fragmentation.
Metal waste and nails have been added as shrapnel to make the mine even
Electric detonators were obtained from the same quarries. Trip plates
were made of wood and wire, and were linked to a common dry cell
battery. These improvised mines are quite effective but usually have a
limited life, often no more than six months, as the batteries tend to
run out after that time.
Insurgent groups like the Karen reportedly feel that their limited funds
are better used to buy guns and ammunition, rather than components for
landmines. Because of the current shortage of resources, they try to dig
up and take their land mines with them when they move.
Such is the demand for landmines in Myanmar that all stocks produced
have been used in-country. There have been no reports of the Rangoon
regime or insurgent group exporting landmines to another country or
Laying, detection and clearing
The Myanmar armed forces rely mainly on traditional methods to lay mines
- by hand. The army's Engineering Corps reportedly has some towed
mine-laying vehicles when large areas are to be mined, but the difficult
terrain in the insurgent areas of operation would restrict their
Over the years, Myanmar Army engineers have used a variety of means to
detect and clear mines. Manual methods, mainly using probes, have been
most common. Since the early 1970s, however, a greater reliance has been
placed on the use of mechanical mine detectors. In the past, these have
included French DHPM-1A mine detection sets, White's Electronics 6000
Di-PRO SL detectors from the UK and UK-made NMD-9 equipment. There have
also been reports that Myanmar manufactures its own mine detector, known
as the Tha-ma 93. This detector, which consists of a circular search
head, carrying handle, battery-powered control box and a set of attached
headphones, seems to be a copy, or maybe a modification, of an imported
The Myanmar Army has Bangalore torpedoes, which can be used to clear
pathways through minefields, and has also used mine detecting and
detonating vehicles. These range from a jeep pushing a weighted trailer
to set off the mines in its path, and a tank-mounted mine roller
designed to do the same thing, to a specially designed mine clearance
plough. The latter seems simply to be a small tank with a bulldozer
blade on the front of the vehicle. It is not known how many of these
vehicles are in the Myanmar Army's order of battle, how or from where
they were acquired. It is possible that some of these vehicles have been
built by the Myanmar Army itself, with designs based on well-known
models for sale on the international market. The nature of the terrain
around Myanmar's borders, however, would restrict the use of such
The Tatmadaw has seriously considered the use of sniffer dogs to detect
mines, but how often this method has been used, and with what degree of
success, is unknown.
There have also been numerous confirmed reports of the Myanmar Army
using local villagers and forced labourers as human minesweepers. These
people (including women and children) have been forced to walk ahead of
military units, detonating any landmines or booby traps that lie in
At present there is no sign that the Rangoon regime intends to reduce
its manufacture or use of landmines in Myanmar. Indeed, the opposite is
true, with the increased use of AP mines against insurgents by the armed
forces being fuelled by a new munitions factory and imports from
friendly countries like China. In these circumstances, it is not
surprising that the military government has consistently refused to sign
the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, stating to the UN that "a sweeping ban on
landmines is unnecessary and unjustified".
The problem is the indiscriminate use of mines, as well as the transfer
of them. The opposition National League for Democracy, by contrast, has
publicly stated that it would be prepared to support Myanmar's accession
to the Ottawa Convention. At present, however, its activities (and those
of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi) have been severely curtailed by the
regime and it has no scope to implement such a policy.
The continuing manufacture and indiscriminate use of AP mines by the
Myanmar armed forces seems set to continue. The insurgents, for their
part, will also use mines and explosive booby traps in their struggle
against the central government, made from whatever resources they can
obtain. The inevitable result will be further casualties, as combatants
and civilians alike are killed and maimed by these weapons in a part of
the world that has not known peace for over 60 years.
GRAPHIC: Photograph 1, AP landmines manufactured by Myanmar's Defence
Products Industries. On the extreme left is a MM 1 (PRC Type 59 copy)
and in the centre is a MM 2 (PRC Type 58 copy). The MM 2 is flanked by
the LTM 76 stake/fragmentation mine. (Source: FTUB/LM) Map 1, Myanmar
(Source: Jane's); Photograph 2, Field surgery is carried out on a mine
victim in Kayah State by the Backpack Health Worker Team, an
ethnic-based emergency medical non-governmental organisation based on
the border of Myanmar and Thailand. (Source:
Kyodo: U.S. urges Myanmar's Wa not to proceed with relocation
Oct. 13 Kyodo
The United States has directly urged the drug-trafficking Wa rebel
leadership in Myanmar against relocating some 100,000 highlanders
dependent on opium cultivation to lowland areas amid reports as many as
1,000 have died since June, a U.S. Statement Department official said
James Callahan, in charge of Asia at the department's Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, told reporters in Bangkok
the United Wa State Army's (UWSA) stated intention of getting highland
tribespeople out of opium cultivation by moving them out of the
highlands into lowland areas was ''obviously self-serving.''
Bangkok Post: UNITED NATIONS - Top refugee official to see border camp
Oct 13, 2000
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will hold high-level
talks and inspect a refugee camp near the Thai-Burmese border during a
two-day visit to Thailand next week.
The UNHCR said Sadako Ogata, who is due to arrive on Tuesday after a
visit to Burma, will have an audience with His Majesty the King and
meetings with Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Deputy Foreign Minister
As Mrs Ogata is due to leave office at the end of this year, the visit
would "also be an opportunity to express her appreciation to His Majesty
the King, the Royal Thai Government and the people of Thailand for their
good will towards refugees during her 10-year tenure", said the UNHCR
On Tuesday, Mrs Ogata received praise from the United States House of
Representatives for a "superb job of bringing both professionalism and
compassion" to her leadership of the UNHCR, the Kyodo news agency
The resolution also commended the office of the UNHCR for its work over
the past 50 years.
The Star (Malaysia): Myanmar skipper jailed and fined
Oct 14, 2000.
PENANG: A Myanmar captain was jailed a week and fined RM5,000 while a
local shipping agent was fined RM10,000 yesterday for falsely declaring
the amount of diesel in a specially-modified fishing boat. Capt U Hla
Tin and Freightman Agency Sdn Bhd, represented by its director Foo Moh
Hock, admitted in a magistrate's court to jointly committing the offence
on board the Thiri Aung in Penang waters on Sept 16.
Both had pleaded guilty to having made a declaration to state Domestic
Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry supplies assistant controller Zamri
Zakaria that the amount of diesel on board was 30,000 litres when the
actual quantity was 41,680 litres.
Magistrate Christopher Kushi Kostka ordered the confiscation of RM20,840
which was proceeds of the sale of 41,680 litres of diesel and for the
vessel to be returned to its owner.
Both U, who was later taken away to jail, and Freightman Agency paid the
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
Free Burma Coalition Minneapolis: Divestment Passes in Minneapolis
Minneapolis City Council Approves Human Rights Policy on Burma City to
Sell-Off Stocks in Corporations Financing Burma's Military Regime, Adopt
Ethical Standards on Burma-related Investments
Minneapolis, MN (Friday, Oct. 13, 2000)-The City Council of Minneapolis
voted 8-5 today on a human rights initiative that directs the city to
sell off--or "divest"--its stocks and avoid future investments in
companies that do business in Burma. Burma is controlled by brutal
military regime with an abysmal human rights record, including forced
labor of millions, rape, torture, mass killings, and opium/heroin
trafficking. The divestment is authored by Council Member Jim Niland
(Ward 6) and sponsored by the Free Burma Coalition. At today's meeting,
Council members Herron, Mead, Campbell, and Council President
Cherryhomes asked to be listed as co-authors.
The Burma Divestment Resolution registers the city's outrage of the
military dictatorship's abuses and the multi-national corporations that
finance the regime to take advantaged of a slave-labor force and exploit
the natural resources. "If we do nothing, we are sending a message that
the city should profit from the atrocities in Burma," said Niland.
The Council passed a similar "Selective Purchasing Resolution" a few
months ago that would have prevented the city from buying products or
accepting contract bids from companies involved in Burma. However,
Mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton vetoed the measure in a move that surprised
many Councilors and upset many community advocates.
Council Member Ostrow, who had earlier voted against the purchasing
resolution, changed his mind on the divestment issue. He said the new
resolution satisfied his previous legal concerns and was building upon
the city's history of adopting ethical parameters in its investment
choices. Following this argument, the Mayor has also agreed to sign the
Burma Divestment Resolution. . "This resolution is the final leg in a
long journey to get the Minneapolis to take responsibility for how it
uses public money and to stop the killing of my people," said Aung Koe,
a Burmese activist.
The success in Minneapolis bolsters the human rights movement for Burma
after a Supreme Court decision this summer striking down a related
measure in the State of Massachusetts, which cast a shadow over other
Burma initiatives. Minneapolis now sends a strong message to local
governments that they have the legal authority-and obligation-to
exercise good judgment in dealing with corporate-sponsored abuses.
"This is the least the city could do to keep its own hands clean from
the bloodshed in Burma," remarked Patti Hurd, a county social worker and
Free Burma Coalition volunteer.
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