SLORC's Response (88 Chronology)

[waterly@xxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: SLORC's Response (88 Chronology)

Copyright 1988 U.P.I.

                      September  19, 1988, Monday, BC cycle


HEADLINE: Chronology of Key events in Burma Leading to military takeover

 
    March -- Disastrous financial policies force Burma to seek ''least developed
developing country'' status at the United Nations to write off much of its $4
billion foreign debt. Street protests break out in Rangoon and other cities.

   March 18 -- Gen. Sein Lwin, the ''Butcher of Rangoon,'' crushes
anti-government student protests, killing an estimated 100 to 283 people.

   June -- Anti-government student riots in Prome, hometown of Gen. Ne Win,
prompt curfew in city and ban on gatherings, speeches, marching and protests.

   June 17 -- About 5,000 militant university students boycott classes on third 
day of protests demanding right to form student union and release of 141
colleagues detained since March riots.

   June 21 -- Riot police stop march by 5,000 student demonstrators in Rangoon, 
and wrest flags from female standard bearers, provoking angry reponse from
students who attack police with knives, slingshots and sticks. Five policemen
killed and 26 wounded. One rioter killed.

   June 22 -- Government slaps 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew on Rangoon, bans
gatherings and demonstrations, begins closing universities and warns ''serious
action'' will be taken against offenders.

   July -- Burma begins to prevent foreign journalists from entering country.

   July 10-13 -- Clashes between police and irate mobs in city of Taunggyi, 300 
miles north of Rangoon, result in three killed, 20 injured and 36 arrested.

   July 14 -- Authorities slap curfew on Taunggyi, bans gatherings and protests.

   July 18 -- Disturbances spread to other central Burmese cities including
Mandalay and Pegu. Police open fire in Prome, killing one person and
injuring

seven. Government imposes curfew and bans gatherings on Prome.

   July 20-22 -- Angry mobs erupt in violence and arson in Prome. U.S. Embassy
begins to warn American travelers of ''possible further violence.'' Prome and
surrounding area declared ''state of emergency'' and put under martial law.

   July 23 -- Ne Win resigns as chairman of Burmese Socialist Program Party,
accepting ''indirect responsibility'' for months of bloody rioting.

   July 26-27 -- Party Central Committee appoints Sein Lwin as leader and party 
chairman.

   Aug. 3 -- Sein Lwin clamps martial law on Rangoon.

   Aug. 4 -- Thousands of students and Buddhist monks defy martial law and surge
through streets shouting anti-government slogans.

   Aug. 6 -- Anti-government protests break out in cities of Pegu and Chanatpin,
about 54 miles north of Rangoon. Police shoot and kill three people.

   Aug. 8 -- More than 100,000 protesters flood streets of Rangoon demanding
democracy and human rights. Protests spread to 14 other cities. Four shot
dead

and 12 wounded in Mandalay.

   Aug. 9 -- Demonstrations spread to at least 26 cities. Troops open fire on
demonstrators in Rangoon. Government says five killed but other sources say
hundreds dead. At least 1,451 demonstrators arrested. Burmese embassies stop
issuing visas.

   Aug. 11 -- Rangoon paralyzed by general strike and barricades. Western
diplomats estimate at least 1,000 demonstrators killed in three days of
violence.

   Aug. 12 -- Nationwide popular uprising forces hardline President Sein Lwin to
resign after 17 days in power.

   Aug. 19 -- Western trained lawyer, Maung Maung takes over as Burma's first
civilian president and party leader in 26 years.

   Aug. 20-23 -- Daily mass demonstrations, marches and rallies snowball with
people demanding end to one-party rule.

   Aug. 24 -- More than 600,000 demonstrators peacefully march throughout Burma 
demanding democracy. Maung Maung lifts martial law and calls party congress

for September and promises to resign if it does not agree to referendum on
ending one-party system.

   Aug. 25 -- Government releases 10 leading dissidents, including retired Brig.
Gen. Aung Gyi as hundreds of thousands continue to demonstrate in capital.

   Aug. 26 -- Protest rallies of 800,000 people demand immediate resignation of 
government and setting up of interim government. Guards open fire on rioting
prisoners at three Burmese prisons.

   Aug. 28 -- Government admits prison guards killed at least 1,000 prisoners
and wounded 103 others attempting to escape from Burma's largest prison.

   Sept. 1 -- Mass defections of civil servants and party members to opposition.
Strikes halt all rail service and closes Rangoon airport. About 500,000
demonstrators protest.

   Sept. 2 -- About 40 Burmese cities are no longer under control of central
government as shadow government slowly emerges.

   Sept. 5 -- Thousands of anti-government protesters surge through streets of
Rangoon as protest leaders issue ultimatum for government to resign or face

indefinite nationwide strike.

   Sept. 9 -- Former Prime Minister U Nu, ousted in a military coup in 1962,
announces formation of a provisional government but lacks support of major
opposition leaders. About 200 air force troops join opposition march in first
major military break with ruling party. Diplomatic corps begin to leave RAN.

   Sept. 10 -- Ruling party agrees to hold multi-party elections.

   Sept. 11 -- Peoples Assembly accepts party decision to hold elections without
a referendum and within 45-90 days.

   Sept. 16 -- Government, conceding to opposition demands, moves to loosen
party hold on power by changing membership rules.

   Sept. 17 -- Demonstrators flood the streets of Rangoon, rejecting government 
latest concessions and demanding its immediate resignation and the formation of 
an interim government. Troops fire on demonstrators.

   Sept. 18 -- Official media announces military takeover by Gen.  Saw Maung. 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

*****************************
At 04:07 PM 5/7/97, you wrote:
>From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Julien Moe)
>
>The Burmese Response
>
>
>
>                         Wednesday, May 7 1997; Page A20
>                         The Washington Post 
>
>                         The Post's April 24 editorial "When Sanctions Make
>Sense"
>                         supported the Clinton administration's decision to
>impose economic
>                         sanctions on Myanmar [Burma]. It ignored historical
>precedent and
>                         failed to check the facts in portraying dissident
>Aung San Suu Kyi
>                         as having been "democratically elected."
>
>                         The Post's support for sanctions apparently is
>based on the
>                         assumption that there are widespread human rights
>violations in
>                         Myanmar.
>
>                         The government has negotiated successfully the
>return to the legal
>                         fold of 15 armed groups that had been challenging
>successive
>                         governments, leaving only one, the KNU, in armed
>opposition. The
>                         government continues to leave the door open to that
>group, which
>                         after four rounds of talks last year unilaterally
>ended the
>                         negotiation.
>
>                         With regard to the assertion that Aung San Suu Kyi
is a
>                         "democratically elected leader," I should like to
>put the record
>                         straight. Aung San Suu Kyi never was a candidate
>for the 1990
>                         elections, which were held to choose
>representatives to draft
>                         principles for a new constitution. In keeping with
>the election laws,
>                         which were established at the time of our
>independence from
>                         Britain, no citizen married to a foreigner is
>eligible to be a
>                         representative. Thus Aung San Suu Kyi -- who is
>married to
>                         Michael Aris, a British citizen, and who resided in
>Britain all her
>                         adult life, save for the two-year period prior to
>1990 -- was not
>                         eligible to stand for election.
>
>                         Given the findings of the considerable research
>carried out on
>                         sanctions, I find The Post's conclusion that
>"rarely has a nation
>                         been more deserving of economic sanction"
>contrived. First and
>                         foremost, the Clinton administration's decision
>smacks of hypocrisy
>                         coming as it does at a time when the president has
>not been able to
>                         act on analogous situations. It is unconvincing
>that Myanmar should
>                         stand so starkly apart from other regimes. The
>political systems of
>                         some of the United States' allies are not notable
>for their concern
>                         with individual liberties.
>
>                         Second, the chances that unilateral sanctions
>imposed by the
>                         United States would have a measurable impact on
>Myanmar are
>                         nil. Eighty percent of Myanmar's trade is with
>other Asian
>                         countries, and any void that the United States
>might leave in the
>                         wake of the sanctions would be quickly filled by
>Asian investors.
>
>                         It should be noted that unilateral sanctions are
>particularly
>                         ineffective. One need only look at U.S. policies
>toward Cuba, Iraq
>                         and Libya.
>
>                         It is time to question the wisdom of the current
>punitive stance
>                         toward Myanmar by members of Congress and the
>media. At a
>                         time when there is significant change and
>transformation in
>                         Myanmar, when it is opening its doors, creating
>opportunities for
>                         other countries to make a difference not only in
>the economic field
>                         but also in other spheres, it is important for the
>United States not to
>                         be influenced by the rhetoric of dissidents. The
>sooner the United
>                         States realizes this, the better its chanc\es of
>achieving progress on
>                         bilateral issues as well as in bringing about
>positive change in
>                         Myanmar.
>
>                         THAUNG TUN
>
>                         Minister-Counsellor
>
>                         Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
>
>                         Washington
>
>
>