"...SLORC is using the release of Aung San Suu Kyi to divert attention away from what is really happening in Burma right now: resumed and intensified offensives against ethnic peoples, further expansion of the army, intensified repression and clampdowns against people nationwide, and the further collapse of the economy. The human rights situation is rapidly worsening, with rapid increases in forced labour as military porters and servants, forced labour on development and infrastructure projects, extortion which is driving villagers further into destitution, land confiscation for military-run farms operated with forced labour, and other abuses connected with these activities such as killings, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, and abuse against children, women, and the elderly. The rural areas are being systematically targetted for further repression and extortion in order to support cosmetic and superficial "improvements" in urban areas - for example, more urban people are giving money in lieu of forced labour, causing more rural villagers to be taken for forced labour. Urban people are poorer than ever due to spiralling inflation, partly caused by foreign investment. Rural people are being hit the hardest due to spiralling demands for extortion money by military officers. Tens of millions of Kyat per month is stolen from rural villages and sent by officers to their families in the cities; their families can then set up urban businesses, and foreign visitors mistake this for economic improvement and open market reform. SLORC still rigidly controls the economy. Rural villages can no longer pay and are falling apart as people flee to avoid arrest for failure to pay money and crop quotas. Forced labour is increasing exponentially in some areas in hurried attempts to finish infrastructure in preparation for "Visit Myanmar Year 1996"..."