Japan Economic Newswire: 15 Feb 07

Indonesia will provide training for Myanmar military officers which may lead to a joint military exercise in the future, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Thursday.

“We made an offer and it was welcomed,” Wirajuda told a press conference after meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

“Training will be provided for Myanmar military officers in Indonesia’s military commanding schools using the educational and training system of the Defense Force, and it will not be impossible that we will hold a kind of joint exercise in the future,” he said.

The military cooperation is included in the Agreed Minutes signed by the two ministers, Wirajuda said.

Asked whether the offer will raise international criticism due to Myanmar’s human rights record, Wirajuda said, “If it is agreed, it will not, of course, create a problem.”

In January, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit and suggested that the military-ruled country learn from the Indonesian military’s experience to promote democracy.

After the fall of Suharto in 1998, the Indonesian military abandoned the long-held doctrine of a dual political and defense function which allowed the military to interfere with politics.

In Thursday’s meeting, Nyan Win also told Wirajuda that the Myanmar government “is optimistic enough” about completing the process of drafting a new constitution this year.

“If the constitution can really be completed this year, I think, it will be good progress,” Wirajuda said.

Asked when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners will be released, Nyan Win told Wirajuda that Myanmar “cannot provide any exact time,” the Indonesian minister said.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003 and has spent 10 of the last 17 years in confinement.

The National League for Democracy led by Suu Kyi won the 1990 general election by a landslide but was blocked by the junta from taking power.

The Myanmar foreign minister arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday for a two-day visit.

ABC Radio Asia

13/02/2007

Burma says it has made a peace deal with a breakaway group of the Karen National Union, the largest rebel group fighting the junta.

State media says more than 300 ethnic Karen insurgents have surrendered to the military government.

The rebels were welcomed by the government in a peace ceremony held in Karen state in eastern Burma.

The official told AFP the government was providing unspecified assistance to the group in exchange for their surrender.

The Karen National Union began battling the government 57 years ago, making their campaign one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies.

Deal damages the Karen cause: activist

The rebels struck the deal after splitting from the KNU two weeks ago.

Leader of the breakaway group, Htain Maung, says he has several hundred fighters under his command.

Karen human rights advocate Clyde Roxon told Radio Australia’s Corinne Podger he understands the rebel faction struck the deal to exploit natural resources inside Burma, in cooperation with the military government.

He says that the deal will damage the Karen cause.

“It’s not benefiting anything for our cause of fighting for sovereignty or autonomy,” he said.

“There wasn’t any promise that there would be a discussion or a meeting talking about a federal union, or a demoractic country or anything like that.

“Actually, their main objective is to do business.”

The KNU says it still has some 10,000 fighters inside Burma, and insists the split will not affect its battle against the central government for greater autonomy.

But the spokesperson of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, a lobby group of parliamentarians from the ASEAN region, Roshan Jason, says Burma’s ethnic groups will have to be patient.

He says the main priority has to be a democratic Burma, in which all Burmese can have a voice.

“It is understood that when people call for democracy in Burma, they are calling for freedom for the entire nation and that includes the ethnic groups”, he told Corinne Podger.

“But at the same time, an internal debate is going on amid leaders of the alternative government, among the leaders of the ethnic communities, among the Burmese NGOs, [about] what are the roles of the ethnic groups … if and when democracy reaches Burma.”

AFP – Feb 13, 07

Jakarta: Indonesia and Myanmar will hold their first meeting of a joint commission aimed at strengthening ties in Jakarta this week, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The two foreign ministers will attend the commission meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, the ministry said on its website.

The foreign ministry spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

During an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last month, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the meetings of the joint commission were aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and would discuss various potential areas for cooperation.

A number of ASEAN nations, including Indonesia, have openly expressed frustration and disappointment with the sluggish pace of democratic reform in Myanmar.

Thai Press Reports: 13 Feb 07

A planned free-trade agreement (FTA) between Asean and the European Union hit a snag recently, as the EU might not sign if the agreement includes Burma, says a senior Thai official, The Nation reports.

Trade Negotiations Department deputy director-general Chana Kanaratanadilok said although the Asean delegates proposed to their EU counterparts that negotiations should be done on a region-to-region basis, the EU might not sign the agreement with some countries, such as Burma.

Some EU members prefer a strong approach in pressing the Burmese junta on human-rights issues. EU officials also insisted that Asean members that were not ready to join the Asean-EU FTA, such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, should join only when they are ready.

Chana represented Thailand at the Asean-EU FTA talks late last month, when officials discussed the format of the agreement before sending it for approval by the Council of Europe prior to the start of formal negotiations.

Chana said that if the members could not agree on the format of the agreement, then negotiations would be delayed further. Plus the EU could choose to enter into FTAs with individual Asean members, which would come at a disadvantage to those members that did not enter into such deals.

“Now Asean must discuss how to deal with the Burma issue – whether it will agree to discuss it as ‘10 plus one’ or ‘nine plus one’. Thailand wants to see negotiations conducted on behalf of the

Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa

04 February 2007

Reading the newspapers during the past two weeks could easily have created the impression that the only role South Africa has played since it assumed a non- permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council was to vote against the resolution on Myanmar. There was no reflection on the country’s role in council discussions about the situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Nepal, Ethiopia- Eritrea, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and the Central African Republic. Yet, in all these discussions, South Africa has been a constructive partner.

Even the vote on Myanmar was wrongly cast as a first, or “inaugural”, vote by South Africa on the council. For the record, it was the second — South Africa voted on January 10 in favour of the extension of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire.

South Africa’s reasons for voting against the resolution were also misrepresented. Some have sought to mislead the public into thinking that the government acted irresponsibly and without regard for the situation in Myanmar. This is far from the truth.

The South African government has consistently stated that human rights abuses anywhere in the world must be condemned. The country favours strengthening the human rights machinery of the UN — a machinery that is a key component of the edifice of the multilateral system that South Africa believes provides the only framework for the resolution of problems facing the world today. The government is proud of the fact that South Africa is one of the first members of the new UN Human Rights Council.

South Africa voted against the resolution on Myanmar because it believed it was going to compromise the good offices of the UN secretary general in addressing sensitive matters of peace, security and human rights. South Africa believes it would have closed the door to further interventions by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Special Envoy on Myanmar. During his last visit to Myanmar Gambari had managed to convey to the government of that country the concerns of the international community. He also met with opposition groups, including political detainees such as Aung San Suu Kyi.

South Africa opposed the resolution because it believes that the situation in Myanmar does not fall within the mandate of the Security Council. The council is entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN Charter created other organs such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. It is important that the balance between these organs be maintained if we are to strengthen the multilateral system.

The Security Council encroaching on the work of other bodies is a major issue at the UN. During a debate on January 8 a number of countries referred to this matter. The ambassadors of Ghana, Panama, China, South Africa and Indonesia made the point that not all potential threats to peace can or should be addressed by the Security Council. These ambassadors also stressed that the council cannot stand on its own and that it is one of many organs of the UN.

Beyond the confines of the 15- member Security Council a number of countries have made this point. Just last week, a letter on behalf of 116 countries, members of the Non-Aligned Movement, was presented to the president of the Security Council complaining about this trend. Should this not matter in our own discourse in South Africa?

The idea that because the human rights machinery is slow in addressing situations in some countries, they should be brought before the council is an intellectual stretch. It belies a limited understanding of international affairs and the conduct of diplomacy.

The main concern of the UN membership is that the Security Council has been increasingly assuming for itself legislative and executive powers that were not foreseen in the Charter. By doing this the council weakens multilateralism and undermines the work of other organs of the UN.

The attempts to compare Myanmar with the reaction of the UN to apartheid are disingenuous and bizarre. Apartheid was a crime against humanity and the apartheid state was a threat to international peace and security. Its record both in Southern Africa and the rest of the world speaks for itself.

South Africa will continue to work towards the strengthening of multilateralism as it believes it is the best hope for the future. Strengthening multilateralism also means reforming the Security Council so that countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America can become permanent members.

Xolisa Mabhongo is Chief Director: United Nations (Political) Directorate, Department of Foreign Affairs