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U.S. Democrats award Daw Aung San S
- Subject: U.S. Democrats award Daw Aung San S
- From: nin@xxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 04:36:00
Subject: U.S. Democrats award Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
*** U.S. Democrats award Suu Kyi, Mondale+ ***
======================================
By Kohei Murayama
CHICAGO, Aug. 26 Kyodo - The U.S. National Democratic Institute
for International Affairs presented an award Monday to Myanmar
democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Walter Mondale in recognizing their efforts in promoting democracy.
The Democratic Party-affiliated institute held the presentation
ceremony of its 10th annual W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award in
Chicago on the sidelines of the party's four-day national convention,
where President Bill Clinton will be officially nominated for his
reelection bid in Nov. 5.
Some 600 international guests, including political leaders and
diplomats, attended the ceremony, along with U.S. administration
officials, business leaders and experts.
Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, received the award for the
Myanmar democratic leader, who did not want to leave the country for
fear she would not be allowed back.
Presenting the award, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Madeleine Albright said, ''For if she were to leave her country, she
would not be allowed to return. And upon her presence and
leadership, the future of democracy in Burma depends.''
In a videotaped address, however, Suu Kyi said, ''It is a great
honor for me to receive (the award) in the name of the movement for
democracy in Burma and also in the name of all of the people of Burma
because I know that the people of my country want democracy.''
Suu Kyi is leading her National League for Democracy (NLD) party
in opposition to the nation's junta, known as the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC).
''At this moment, we in the movement for democracy are facing a
lot of difficulties,'' she said, noting the SLORC ''is doing
everything it can to crush the movement for democracy.''
''We in the National League for Democracy in particular are
subjected to all kinds of persecution, and the movement of our party
is restricted in so many ways that it is hardly possible for us to
operate as a political party should,'' Suu Kyi said.
''In spite of that, we remain strong in our resolve and we know
that we shall reach the goal that we wish to reach, with the help of
the people and the support of the international community,'' she
said.
Mondale said he is honored to join Suu Kyi in receiving the
award while praising her democratic movements in Myanmar.
''It is very clear that democratic government and economic
growth go hand in hand in Asia,'' Mondale said in alluding to Japan,
Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Asian nations with strong economies.
Specifying Myanmar and North Korea, Mondale said Asian
nations with ''brutal regimes'' are facing economic and other
difficulties.
Albright said, ''Clearly, it is Aung San Suu Kyi, not the SLORC,
who represents Burmese national identity and pride. In the last 30
years, only she, and the movement she leads, have received a mandate
from Burma's people to speak for them and their country.''
''That is why we ask the SLORC to begin a serious dialogue with
the forces of democracy, to cease torture and repression, and to move
Burma down the path towards economic and social progress in larger
freedom,'' Albright said.
''That is why we ask our friends in Asia and elsewhere who
advocate constructive engagement with the SLORC to be sure that their
engagement is, in fact, constructive,'' she said, ''We should not,
after all, be rewarding despots, we should be encouraging them either
to change or to leave.''
While the U.S. is continuing to impose sanctions on Myanmar to
press the military regime, Japan and some other Asian nations are
pursuing a policy of ''constructive engagement'' to exert influence
over the junta toward dialogue with the NLD.
Although the NLD won 81 percent of the parliamentary seats in
the 1990 elections, the ruling junta blocked them from taking
office and confined Suu Kyi under house arrest.
After international pressure, including a Nobel Peace prize
awarded to Suu Kyi, the junta released her last year.
In response to her resumption of activities to encourage the
democratic movement, however, the military regime arrested more than
250 NLD representatives in May, ahead of Suu Kyi's planned meeting to
commemorate the 1990 election.
Despite the crackdown, the meeting took place with more than
10,000 supporters gathered at Suu Kyi's home.
But last week, the regime again took such action as arresting
Suu Kyi's supporters and sentencing her personal secretary to a
seven-year jail term, once again stirring international concern.
==Kyodo
U.S Democrats honor Burma's Suu Kyi
CHICAGO, Aug 26 (Reuter) - Burma's democracy campaigner
Aung San Suu Kyi was honoured by the U.S. Democratic Party on
Monday as a standard bearer for human rights in the face of
repression by the country's military government.
Suu Kyi, who refuses to leave her country for fear that
the military will not allow her back, was given the Averell
Harriman Democracy Award of the National Democratic Institute
at a lunch during the party's national convention.
The institute gave the award jointly to Suu Kyi and to
former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, now ambassador to
Japan.
Presenting the award to Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris,
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright said
the Asian state's government was 'one of the most oppressive
and intrusive on Earth'
Albright said the 'bravery and sacrifice' of Suu Kyi, a
Nobel Peace Prize winner who was under house arrest for six
years up to July last year, were part of a larger struggle for
freedom across the world that was 'never easy and never
over.'
Suu Kyi, in a videotaped acceptance message played to the
audience of Democrats and invited diplomats from around the
world, said despite the persecution of her National Democratic
Party, her fight would continue.
'We remain strong in our resolve and we know that we shall
reach the goal that we wish to reach, with the help of the
people and the support of the international community,' she
said.
Albright urged 'our friends in Asia and elsewhere who
advocate constructive engagement (with the Burmese
authorities) to be sure that their engagement is, in fact,
constructive.'
Washington has tried to persuade states in the region to
adopt a tougher policy toward the Burmese military rulers.
Mondale, a former chairman of the institute, was given the
award for being 'a leading voice in U.S. foreign policy to
promote human rights.'
REUTER