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CRDB's letter to U.S. Congress




      The Committee for Restoration of Democracy in Burma

The follwoing is the text of the letter sent to the members of the U.S.
Congress by the CRDB regarding its stand on United Nations assistance to
Burma.


May 12, 1995


This week you will be considering the merits of providing United Nations
development assistance to Burma. I request that you insist that any funding
considerations for Burma be deferred until the military regime in Rangoon
complies with the demands of its citizens that political power be transferred
to the civilian government which was elected to office in May 1990.

There is no doubt that Burma needs economic development assistance to improve
its impoverished economy. Yet, the sorry truth is that the devastation of our
nation is a direct result of the actions of the current military leaders.
They have ravished the natural resources to buy military weapons from China,
when there is no external threat. They have subjected our citizens to the
most inhumane abuses on a scale not matched since the Nazi atrocities of more
than a half century ago. The military clique and their families alone have
profited from the so-called economic reforms recently instituted. They are
now directly involved in narcotics trafficking, the proceeds being used in
joint ventures with foreign investors.

There is convincing evidence that border development projects, for which
funding is sought, are intended, not for economic development of the region,
but to improve military lines of communications to increase Burma Army
capabilities to complete the destruction of ethnic minorities. United Nations
development aid at this time would constitute aiding and abetting acts of
genocide.

Your support on this issue will be deeply appreciated by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
who has requested that international funding be denied to the regime in
Rangoon and by the 43 millions Burmese now in bondage and under a reign of
terror.

Sincerely,

(Signed)
Tin Maung Thaw
Chairman