Wired News on Jan.23, '95

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on Jan.23, '95
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Burmese army said aiming at rebel headquarters   

    BANGKOK, Jan 23 (Reuter) - Burmese government forces appear to be
building up to a major assault on the headquarters of ethnic Karen guerrillas
at Manerplaw in southeastern Burma, guerrilla sources said on Monday. 

    They said that over the past few days, government troops attacked a key
guerrilla position at Naw Ta, some 25 km (15 miles) south of Manerplaw, and
were moving men to positions to the north and west of the guerrilla base. 

    ``The movement of the SLORC seems quite serious. We have to prepare for
the worst,'' one guerrilla source told Reuters in reference to the
military-led Rangoon government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC). 

    ``Every day they are attacking, trying to test for weak points,'' said
the source, who declined to be identified. 

    There has been sporadic fighting around Manerplaw since the middle of
December when Burmese troops, apparently taking advantage of an unprecedented
mutiny within the Karen National Union (KNU), launched the heaviest attacks
on the guerrillas in more than two years. 

    Since then government forces have been moving supplies and reinforcements
through the mountains of southeast Burma to their forward positions. 

    The guerrilla official said more than 100 truckloads of supplies had been
sent over the past few weeks to an army base near Naw Ta, which he said was
the most likely route for an assault on Manerplaw. 

    The KNU is the largest guerrilla force still fighting the Rangoon
government for greater autonomy. 

    Since 1989, SLORC has made ceasefire agreements with 13 guerrilla groups,
including the powerful Kachin guerrillas of northern Burma and the fragmented
armed wing of the now defunct Communist Party of Burma. 

    Preliminary moves to open negotiations between the KNU and the government
were underway last year but became bogged down over a venue for talks. 

    The guerrillas wanted to meet in Rangoon and the government insisted on
holding talks in the southeastern city of Moulmein. 

    The KNU said in a statement on Monday the army offensive was destroying
chances of a political solution to the war. 

    ``The latest move appears to indicate clearly the determination of the
SLORC to discredit attempts by the KNU to open negotiations concerning a
ceasefire and the necessary political settlement in Burma,'' it said. 

    The KNU dominates an alliance of autonomy-seeking minority groups and
democracy-seeking guerrillas from the majority Burman community. 

    The opposition alliance, fighting for a federal, democratic Burma, has
its headquarters at Manerplaw. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-01-23 05:37:58 EST
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Burma's Suu Kyi says no secret deal with junta   

    By Sutin Wannabovorn 

    BANGKOK, Jan 23 (Reuter) - Burma's dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in
a rare message from detention in Burma, assured pro-democracy colleagues
there would be no secret deal with the junta over her release and said she
remains dedicated to the democracy movement. 

    Suu Kyi said,in a statement brought from Rangoon to Bangkok by her
husband British academic Michael Aris and obtained by Reuters on Monday, that
she was at all times bound by the democratic duty to act with colleagues and
be guided by their aspirations. 

    ``There has not been and there will not be any secret deals with regard
either to my release or any other issue,'' said the Nobel peace laureate who
has been held in her lakeside Rangoon home since July 1989. 

    ``I adhere to the principle of accountability and consider myself at all
times bound by the democratic duty to act in consultation with colleagues.'' 

    Her statement appeared to be in response to concerns voiced by
pro-democracy activists that she might agree to be released under tight
restrictions which would curtail her political activities. 

    But in her message, dated Sunday, she said she would always be ``guided
by the aspirations of those engaged in the movement to establish a truly
democratic political system in Burma'' and remained ``dedicated to an active
participation in this movement.'' 

    The Burmese junta has scotched speculation that it might be about to
release the 49-year-old daughter of Burma's independence hero Aung San. 

    The speculation was fuelled by two unprecedented meetings with junta
leaders late last year. 

    Burma's ruling generals told visiting Thai Foreign Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra last week she would not be freed until a constitution now being
written is complete, which diplomats say could take several years. 

    Suu Kyi said in her message she approached the September 20 and October
28 talks with junta leaders with ``genuine good will.'' 

    ``It has always been the firm conviction of those working for democracy
in Burma that it is only through meaningful dialogue between diverse
political forces that we can achieve national reconciliation,'' she said. 

    She referred to last December's U.N. General Assembly resolution calling
on the junta to engage in a substantive political dialogue with herself,
other political leaders and representatives from ethnic groups. 

    ``It was in full acceptance of this view and with genuine good will that
I approached the meetings with members of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council,'' she said, using the junta's official name. 

    Aris discounted rumours that his wife had been permitted to meet her
jailed National League for Democracy (NLD) colleagues party chairman Tin Oo
and spokesman Kyi Maung. 

    He also said there had been no meeting between Suu Kyi and former head of
state Ne Win as rumoured late last year. 

    Suu Kyi's detention, which the SLORC has been extending in six-month
periods, was not officially renewed when the last period elapsed on January
10, Aris said. 

    ``Her status has not been clarified. They have not served a renewal of
detention order as they have done in the past,'' Aris told Reuters. 

    Under the military government's own law a period of house arrest can last
a maximum of five years but a senior junta official said last year her first
year of detention was an ``arrest period'' and her five-year detention only
began in July 1990. 

    Suu Kyi emerged as a charismatic leader of a pro-democracy uprising that
swept Burma in 1988 and was only put down by the military with the deaths of
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people. 

    The NLD swept more than 80 percent of the seats in May, 1990, elections,
but the SLORC ignored the results, claiming a new constitution had to be
drawn up before any transfer of power to a civilian government could occur. 

    Suu Kyi, who has refused the SLORC's offer to set her free if she leaves
Burma, won the 1991 Nobel Prize for her non-violent campaign for democracy. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-01-23 13:45:34 EST
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Amnesty condemns Burma over Aung San Suu Kyi   

    BANGKOK, Jan 23 (Reuter) - The international human rights group Amnesty
International on Monday condemned the continued detention of Burma's
dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

    ``(Burma's) military authorities appear determined to hold her until she
is no longer deemed a threat to them,'' the London-based group said in a
statement received here. 

    ``If they are going to make a credible effort to improve their human
rights record the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be a genuine first
step.'' 

    The Burmese junta last week scotched speculation that it might be about
to release Suu Kyi, now in her sixth year under house arrest, telling
visiting Thai Foreign Minister Thaksin Shinawatra she would not be freed
until a constitution, now being written, was complete. 

    Rangoon-based diplomats say that could take several years. 

    The 49-year-old daughter of Burma's independence hero General Aung San,
Suu Kyi was first detained in July 1989, for ``Endangering the state.'' 

    Suu Kyi, who has refused the junta's offer to set her free if she leaves
Burma, won the 1991 Nobel Prize for her non-violent campaign for democracy. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-01-23 12:25:25 EST
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