Date : April 28, 2002.

Burma's Labor Minister Tin Win said Sunday "significant progress" will soon take place in the country, in the first official statement on a recent visit by a top U.N. envoy. "Significant progress, a kind of action, will take place in a few days," Tin Win said on the sidelines of a press conference at a Defense Ministry guest house held in connection with Thai military attacks on a Wa militia camp on the Burma side of the border. Tin Win, who was present at the press conference, was commenting on a statement by a U.N spokesman Saturday that significant progress is imminent in Burma.

Source : Kyodo News
Related News :
 [28/04/02] Reuters : The junta says _major progress_in Suu Kyi talks
 [30/04/02] iWon : Rights Activists Cautious on Myanmar Release Rumor
 [30/04/02] VOA News : Spectulation in Burma about DASSK's Freedom
 [30/04/02] CNN : Burma hopes high for Suu Kyi release
 [30/04/02] CNN : Tom Mintier reports from Rangoon wav - 2.95MB/ 4 min 40 sec
 [01/05/02] CNN : Burma tight-lipped on Suu Kyi release

Date : April 28, 2002.

Burmese army chief Gen Maung Aye has promised to put out of business a company owned by drug kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang, a major benefactor of the United Wa State Army. The army chief, also deputy chairman of SPDC, gave his pledge after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra informed him about the nefarious activities of the company.

"I told the SPDC deputy chairman that intelligence reports had revealed the Hong Pang company was responsible for trafficking drugs into Thailand," Mr Thaksin said yesterday during his weekly radio address. Gen Maung Aye was quoted as saying "the company would not exist within two weeks."

Rangoon began a crackdown on businesses linked to the drug trade earlier this month. Burmese intelligence chief Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt had also instructed Pao Yu Yi, a UWSA military commander, that Rangoon would no longer tolerate its involvement in the drug trade.

"The situation is potentially explosive," said a security analyst.

Source : [28/04/02] Bangkok Post : Strongman to target druglord's company
Related News : [28/04/02] Bangkok Post : Rangoon stymies bilateral talks

Date : April 27, 2002.

DASSK has been invisible for 18 months now. Her home is guarded and out-of-bounds to all but those allowed in by the military regime. The phone is cut and no word has passed beyond a clutch of close associates and a handful of visiting foreign emissaries. But in the old two-storey house beside Rangoon's Inya Lake, she still holds the key to Burma's political future in her hand. Talks between the junta and the Nobel Peace laureate that began September 2000, for attempting to leave Rangoon to visit supporters of her National League for Democracy, have failed to produce the long-awaited deal to end Burma's economic and political isolation.

This week, as a United Nations special envoy, Razali Ismail, made his seventh visit to Rangoon, there was more intense speculation than usual that a breakthrough was imminent or that if it was not there would be a renewed international backlash against the regime and possibly the resignation of Mr Razali. As he prepared to wind up his visit late on Thursday after a meeting with NLD leaders, the veteran Malaysian diplomat was still offering public optimism and private indications that progress was being made and that he would be returning within two months in the hope of brokering an agreement. "I'm hopeful there should be progress, but I can't promise when it will be."

What Western governments are strongly pressing for at the moment, is Ms Suu Kyi's release from house arrest and permission for her to resume political activity as leader of the NLD. Since a secret meeting in January between her and the military leader General Than Shwe, the regime has stepped up the release of political prisoners now totalling about 260 in the past year and the NLD has been allowed to reopen 35 of its branches in Rangoon.

After 14 years of brinkmanship with a ruthless regime, there is little doubt that Ms Suu Kyi, 56, has the strength and endurance to continue the struggle. But she is also under growing pressure to achieve a breakthrough.

"People are getting impatient with the whole process. They want to know what's going on and they want some results," said Aung Zaw, editor of Irrawaddy News Magazine. "The Burmese people share the frustration of the international community. But she can't make too many compromises or people will no longer trust her. She's playing a very delicate game; she has to be careful."

Source : [27/04/02] Sydney Morning Herald
Related News : [22/04/02] Australian: DASSK agrees to deal with junta

Date : April 21, 2002.

A visit by U.N. Special Envoy Razali Ismail this week could be the last chance for the military to show it is serious about political change in the impoverished and isolated country. Diplomats say patience with the military rulers is running out after more than 18 months of secretive talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and unless it can prove the dialogue is more than just a sham, heavier sanctions are set to follow.

Source : Reuter

Date : April 18, 2002.

Burma has rejected an offer of peace talks from the largest rebel force still fighting the government, saying the Shan State Army [SSA] will have to surrender if it wants peace. SSA commander Yod Suk had said he wanted Thailand to mediate truce talks with the junta. But he said the SSA, which has battled Burmese troops in the Golden Triangle region for years, will not lay down its weapons.

Source : VOA
Related News : VOA - Burma's Shan Seek Dialogue With Rangoon

Date : April 11, 2002

The Australian Government has succeeded in watering down a United Nations resolution which aimed to increase pressure on Burma's military junta. The European Union proposed a strongly worded resolution to the UN Human Rights Commission, but Australia warned that it would not co-sponsor the
resolution unless it was changed. The European draft condemned lack of progress towards restoring
democracy and referred to rights abuses, including child and forced labour.

According to non-government organisations lobbying in Geneva, Australian diplomats presented 10 pages of objections and amendments to the draft UN resolution on Burma. This came amid speculation that the country's ruling generals could this month release Ms Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Source : Sydney Morning Herald

Date : April 8, 2002

The relationship between Thailand and Burma has been put to the test following a border clash between a Thai army unit and Burma's United Wa State Army [UWSA] in Chiang Mai province late last month. The clash drew the public's attention because a Thai soldier was killed and many others wounded. It consequently resulted in the cancellation of HM the Queen's trip to a Royal project at a nearby area. Rangoon claimed that Thai troopers were on its soil when the clash took place, while Thai Army Commander in Chief Surayud Jalanont insisted that there was no reason for the army unit to invade Burmese territory. Both countries' ambassadors were "invited" to receive notes, ranking from a protest note to an aide memoir.

Soruce : The Nation

Date : April 7, 2002.

U Win Pe [pen name Maung Swan Yi, 65, a respected Burmese critic and poet] and Daw San May [pen name Shwegu May Hnin, 63, a Burmese author and elected Member of Parliament from the opposition National League for Democracy - NLD], have been put under house arrest at their "new homes" since Saturday after their original houses were demolished by security forces. School teacher Daw Yin Yin Myint and U Sai Hla Kyaw who lived in the same district were also apprehended. Local residents believed that frank interviews given by some of them to Washington-based Radio Free Asia [RFA] Burmese service might have upset the military authorities. The incident took place in Rangoon's Waggi district of Kamayut township on Friday night and demolished 25 houses including those of the detainees. The destruction and arrests were ordered by Major Yan Naing Oo.

Sources : Burma Media Association / Irrawaddy Magazine

Date : April 6, 2002

RANGOON,— Burma has set new dates for a visit by a United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, who is seeking to spur on talks between the military rulers and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burma government minister said on Saturday. Mr. Razali will visit for four days near the end of the month, after Burma's ruling generals last month postponed his trip due to an attempted coup by relatives of ageing former dictator Ne Win.

Source : REUTER

Date : April 5, 2002

Signs are coming clear that Burma's military junta is preparing to make a major political concession around April 17, the nation's New Year, to try relatives of former dictator Ne Win for high treason, in connection with an alleged coup plot that was foiled in early March (The March 7 detention of Ne Win's son-in-law, Aye Zaw Win and his three sons elicited an equal measure of surprise, hope and skepticism from outside observers and local supporters of the opposition National League for Democracy). Ne Win was long seen as a key power behind the ruling junta, despite his 1988 resignation after massive pro-democracy demonstrations.

Soruce : Stratfor

RANGOON - Burma's military government on Friday declared its economic policies a success, saying the economy grew by 8.4 percent annually during the last five years. Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the junta's No. 3 leader, said the annual growth rate surpassed an official target of 6 percent (of GDP, the sum of goods and services produced in a country). He said that the government "is striving for all-around development in political, economic and social fields," in a speech launching a two-day conference of finance ministers from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian nations, or ASEAN. However the junta does not release detailed economic statistics, and independent verification of the figures it gives is not possible. Many economists outside the country say the government inflates its claims.

Source : AP

Date : April 5, 2002

NEWTON - The Commonwealth's strained relationship with Burma, whose military government is accused of violating human rights, was reignited yesterday at Bloomingdale's in the Mall at Chestnut Hill as 12 students from Brandeis University protested the store's refusal to eliminate made-in-Burma apparel from its clothing racks.

Source : BostonGlobe

Date : April 2, 2002

Burma's ruling military said Saturday that some military officers were part of a suspected plot to overthrow the regime. Diplomats said the military government dismissed the chiefs of the air force and the police, and a regional military commander, but the junta did not confirm those dismissals and did not name any military officers it suspected in the alleged plot. Maj. Gen. Kyaw Win, deputy head of military intelligence said the four - Ne Win's son-in-law Aye Zaw Win, who is a businessman, and his three sons - were arrested Thursday night. A relative said earlier that Aye Zaw Win's wife, Ne Win's daughter Sandar Win, was under a restriction order amounting to house detention. Ne Win, 90, was at the forefront of Burma's struggle for independence from Britain, achieved in 1948, and he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1962.

Sources : AP