KEEP UP THE PRESSURE ON

[mabel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: KEEP   UP   THE   PRESSURE   ON    MYANMAR

                     " Keep Up the Pressure on Myanmar "

   This artical form Los Angeles Times Editorials(Wednesday,May 29,1996)

   Aung san suu Kyi,learder of the democratic forces in Myanmar,formerly       
Burma,held a three-day political conference over the weekend and only 18       
members of her National League for Democracy showed up.The country ruling       
military junta had arrested 262 other delegates and party members.But what      
the sessions lacked in numbers they achieved in symbolic challenge to the       
military regime.
   
   The arrests drew immediate condemnations from Washington and,significantly,  
  Tokyo,which demanded the release of the delegates and warned that continuing  
  arrests could discourage Japanese investment.Japanese have been major    
palayers in Myanmar.

   The State Law and Order Restoration Council,as the junta calls itself,has    
   refused to to let Suu Kyi's National League convene Parliament since the     
  party's landslide election victory six years ago promised democracy for the   
  Southeast Asian country for the first time in decades.Suu Kyi,winner of the   
  1991 Nobel Peace Prize,was placed under house arrest.Only last year was she   
  released.

   In concluding the National League conference on Tuesday,Suu Kyi disclosed    
   plans to draft an alternative constitution to one being drawn by a junta     
  panel.She declared she was willing to talk to the military,however,and said   
  its officers "should help bring about democracy."

   But the regime,financed in part by drugproducing and trafficking operations  
   and the business investments of foreign companies,haslittle reason to        
 deal.Foreign government should continue to press the generals to ease their    
 political repression or risk killing the golden goose of investment.




   MABEL
   L.A.
   U.S.A.