Danish gesture

[ider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

 Prime Minister Invites Aung San Suu Kyi to Denmark 
   COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) _ The Danish prime minister has invited
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to attend Denmark's
Social Democratic Party's congress this fall, a newspaper reported
Saturday.
   ``We want to send a signal to the dictatorship regime that we
follow her closely and that we condemn its violation of human
rights,'' Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen told the Politiken
daily.
   Since the death of a former Nordic honorary consul last weekend
in a Rangoon prison, western nations have expressed outrage with
Burma's military regime.
   Denmark has put economic sanctions against Burma on the agenda
of a European Union meeting July 15. In the strongest statement by
a U.S. official in favor of sanctions so far, U.S. Commerce
Secretary Mickey Kantor said Friday that economic sanctions could
be effective in forcing Burma to allow more democracy.
   James Leander Nichols, 65, died of a reported stroke in his
prison cell last weekend. Nichols, who was known to suffer from a
heart disease and diabetes, had served as honorary consul for
Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland until 1978.
   Nichols was arrested in April and sentenced to three years in
jail for illegal possession of two fax machines and a telephone
switchboard. Diplomats and his family say he was punished for his
links to Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
   Nyrup Rasmussen, the head of the Social Democratic Party, said
if Suu Kyi could come to Denmark, his government would organize a
an all-political party hearing at the Danish Parliament, the daily
reported.
   In the past Suu Kyi has refused invitations outside Burma
fearing that the military regime would bar her from re-entering the
country.
   The Social Democratic Party is holding its annual congress in
Copenhagen in September.
   (jo-ks) 
   
290954 Jun GMT