Reuter news on Dec. 6. (r)

[jhb3@xxxxxxxxxxx]

>Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 16:50:47 -0500
>Reply-To: Conference "reg.burma" <reg.burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>From: FreeBurma@xxxxxxx
>Subject: Reuter news on Dec. 6.
>To: Recipients of conference <reg.burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>X-Gateway: conf2mail@xxxxxxxxxxx
>Errors-To: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
>Precedence: bulk
>Lines: 109
>
>Attn: Burma Newsreaders
>Re: News on Dec. 6
>
>
>Burmese ethnic groups ally to demand reforms
>
>    BANGKOK, Dec 6 (Reuter) - Four ethnic minority groups which signed
>ceasefires with the Burmese government have now formed an alliance to back
>their demands for swifter progress towards democracy, rebel sources said on
>Tuesday.
>    The Peace and Democratic Front (PDF) alliance was formed over the weekend
>after weeklong talks between the groups involved, the sources told Reuters.
>    Kyauk Nyi Laing, the Wa ethnic leader, was appointed chairman of the PDF
>which also comprises the Lahu, Kokang and Palong ethnic minorities.
>    The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of the main rebel
>organisations which have signed ceasefires, did not participate in the talks,
>which took place in northern Shan state bordering China, but sent a letter to
>support the formation of the alliance, sources said.
>    ``PDF was formed because many armed factions who reached a ceasefire with
>the government felt upset over delays with the development of democracy in
>the country,'' one of the sources said.
>    At its first meeting the PDF agreed to demand that the ruling State Law
>and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) speed up development of a democratic
>system and recognise the results of Burma's 1990 general election.
>    It also demanded the release of political prisoners including Aung San
>Suu Kyi, the National league for Democracy (NLD) leader who has been held
>under house arrest since July, 1989.
>    SLORC, the military-backed government which took power in 1988 after the
>brutal suppression of a pro-democracy movement, ignored the results of the
>1990 election won convincingly by the NLD despite Suu Kyi's detention.
>    The rebel sources said that as well as forming an alliance on the
>political front, the PDF had agreed on military cooperation in case one of
>its members was attacked.
>    The four PDF groups have more than 40,000 armed men in rebel armies which
>have not been disbanded despite the ceasefire pacts.
>    ``The forming of PDF indicates that the SLORC has failed to develop a
>democratic system as it promised to the rebels. I believe it will expand into
>one of the main opposition organisations against the SLORC,'' a Shan rebel
>source who monitors Burma said.
>    Kyauk Nyi Laing is also a former leader of the Burmese Communist Party
>(BCP), which denounced communism in the early 1980s and also signed a
>ceasefire agreement.
>    In April, 1992, the SLORC declared a unilateral suspension of hostilities
>against dozens of rebel ethnic minority groups who had been fighting for
>autonomy from central government since Burma gained independence from Britain
>in 1948, and offered peace negotiations.
>    Thirteen armed factions have signed ceasefires with the SLORC to date.
>
>REUTER
>Transmitted: 94-12-06 03:07:38 EST
>*************
>
>
>Europe envoy snubbed by Burmese regime
>
>    BANGKOK, Dec 6 (Reuter) - A European Parliament envoy said on Tuesday
>that Burmese military authorities snubbed him during his visit to Rangoon
>this week and refused to let him see detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
>Kyi.
>    Glyn Ford, a British representative of the European Union's parliament,
>told Reuters he carried a letter from parliament president Klaus Haensch
>inviting Suu Kyi to Europe to accept the Sakharov prize awarded to her in
>1990.
>    ``The Burmese authorities refused to meet me at all. It was a total blank
>wall,'' said Ford, who last week attended a democracy forum in South Korea
>that called for improved human rights and the release of political prisoners
>in military-run Burma.
>    ``This can only be taken as a rebuff to the European Parliament. Clearly
>they don't want a dialogue with the European Union,'' he said.
>    European leaders have indicated over the past several months they may be
>softening their stand towards Burma after years of apparently ineffectual
>isolation tactics.
>    The State Law and Order Restoration Council has been shunned by the West
>after crushing a democracy uprising in 1988 and  refusing to recognise the
>1990 election victory of the National League for Democracy party funded by
>Suu Kyi.
>    Suu Kyi, under house arrest since 1989, was awarded the Nobel peace prize
>in 1991.
>    Two meetings between Suu Kyi and junta representatives over the past
>three months have sparked hopes of change.
>    But Ford said after speaking to European ambassadors, former politicians
>and unnamed opposition figures, ``The view is at this time the situation for
>most opposition leaders is not changed.
>    ``Most people are happy (about the meetings)...but they're not sure how
>much further it's going to go.''
>    Ford said the message he would carry back to the parliament, which meets
>next week, would not be encouraging. ``People keep saying the regime has
>improved. I saw no evidence for that.''
>    The role of the European Parliament includes approval of European Union
>trade agreements, Ford said. The European Commission is currently debating
>whether to impose a quota on textile imports from Burma, he said.
>
>REUTER
>Transmitted: 94-12-06 10:39:50 EST
>*********
>
>
>South Korea donates $200,000 in equipment to Burma
>
>    BANGKOK, Dec 6 (Reuter) - South Korea has donated $200,000 worth of heavy
>equipment and spare parts to Burma for roadbuilding along its borders,
>Rangoon's state-run media reported.
>    The equipment included two bulldozers, one roadroller and spare parts, it
>said.
>    South Korea, one of Burma's bigger trading partners, donated pumps and
>tractors in 1992 and 1993 for similar programmes.
>
>REUTER
>Transmitted: 94-12-06 08:45:47 EST
>
>

john badgley
607-255-7229
fax 607-255-8438