When the UN special envoy to Burma arrives in that Southeast Asian nation early August, Burma watchers and exiles will be looking to see what pressure he puts on Rangoon's military junta to end the flagrant attacks on the country's many ethnic groups.

Former Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail's behind-the-scenes nudging is believed to have played a key, if quiet, role in the release from house arrest of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in early May.

Whether he is able to make some headway on the issue of the treatment of ethnic minorities, a sensitive matter for Rangoon, is up in the air.

But many nevertheless say it is time to push for progress in this area, especially in the light of reports by local and international rights lobbies about the extent of these rights violations and the upcoming meeting of Asean on July 29-30.

''The fate of the ethnic nationalities has not figured in the talks Razali has held,'' says Soe Aung, a director at the Network for Democracy and Development, a group made up of exiled Burmese.

He says the reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI) and the local Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), which cover the armed forces' operations against ethnic groups and minorities to quell dissent and insurgencies, ''make it difficult for Razali to ignore them''.

''He should bring them up during the talks,'' Soe Aung said, urging an ''inclusive approach'' to restore democracy, peace and stability in Burma. ''Democracy and the problems faced by ethnic nationalities have to be addressed together.''

Razali should use his visit to pressure the government to stop the abuse of ethnic communities, says Srirak Plipat, head of Amnesty's Thailand office. ''It is important, because there has been little international attention to these violations, and it is a way of showing that the international community is concerned.''

Muslims and others abused

On Thursday, HRW drew attention to the violent attacks against Burma's Muslim minority. ''The government has failed to take effective action to protect Muslims in Burma, imposed restrictions on Muslim religious activities and travel both inside the country and abroad, and taken no action to punish those responsible for destroying Muslim homes and mosques,'' the HRW study declares.

In Arakan, a state with a predominant Muslim population, abuse is ''commonplace,'' including forced labour, destruction of mosques and restriction on freedom of movement, HRW charges in the report 'Crackdown on Burmese Muslims'.

Two days before that, Amnesty accused Burma's armed forces, the 'Tatmadaw', of perpetrating attacks and abuse against members of seven other ethnic nationalities in Burma, which was renamed Myanmar by the military rulers years ago.

The human rights violations committed by the armed forces against civilians include ''extrajudicial executions, torture, forced labour, land confiscation made in the context of violent threats and threatening demands for money and food,'' AI reveals in its report, 'Myanmar: Lack of security in counter-insurgency areas'.

The violations documented in the report occurred from early 2001 to early 2002 in the country's east, and affected ethnic groups such as the Mon, Karen, Akha, Shan and Palaung.

Prior to HRW and AI reports, SHRF released a disturbing report that exposed the Burma's military use of rape as a weapon of war against the Shan community.

There were ''173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese army troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001,'' SHRF charged in a report released mid-June.

Raping Shan women appears to be ''a concerted strategy by the Burmese army troops'' as part of their anti-insurgency activities, it added.

''Eighty-three percent of the rapes were committed by officers, usually in front of their own troops. The rapes involved extreme brutality and often torture such as beating, mutilation and suffocation,'' the SHRF report said.

Panglong accord

Since October 2000, Razali has made seven visits to Burma to steer the UN-brokered reconciliation talks between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the Burmese government is known, and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

While Suu Kyi's freedom in early May was greeted as a positive step in Burma's slow march towards more democracy after 40 years of military rule, there were those who said that the country would have little to celebrate if its ethnic troubles were ignored.

Burma is an ethnically diverse country with more than 130 communities. While the Burmans are the largest group, seven others — the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Rakhine and Shan — have sizable numbers in regions mostly along the country's borders.

The idea of equality among all ethnic groups is supposedly a pillar of this country — a feature recognised in the 1947 Panglong Accord, the document that defined independent Burma — but the Burman-dominated military regimes have failed to uphold it in practice.

For human rights advocates like Somchai Homlaor, the plight of Burma's ethnic communities needs to be addressed at a regional level, too — by Asean at its annual meeting of foreign ministers, to be held in Brunei this month.

Burma is a member of this 10-nation group that also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Asean problem

''Human rights violations in Burma are an Asean problem. The leaders have to take note of these reports,'' asserts Somchai, head of Forum Asia, a Bangkok-based regional human rights watchdog.

Yet he doubts if the persecuted communities in Burma can look to Asean for help, given its policy of non-interference in local disputes.

The 35-year-old group has always been averse to discussing internal rights issues. While Burmese activists and Suu Kyi have regularly made appeals to Asean in the past, it has traditionally shirked addressing the matter openly. Its statements generally encourage political dialogue in Burma, opting for quieter diplomacy in dealing with the junta.

But if, in fact, Asean does listen, Razali's visit will be pivotal in helping Burma's persecuted, says Somchai. ''If his goal is to help build peace, he cannot ignore these human rights violations. They matter.'' — IPS