Myanmar rejects call for dialogue

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxx]

The Daily Yomiuri
Tuesday, August 19, 1997

Yangon ( Kyodo )
Myanmar on Monday rejected Japan's request that it open dialogue with
pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Japanese official said.
Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, first secretary of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, 
told State Foreign Secretary Masahiko Komura, the second highest-ranking
Foreign 
Ministry official, that he cannot meet with people who have broken the law,
even if 
they are leader of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy ( NLD ).
Three relatives of Suu Kyi have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison
for illegally
receiving funds from an American.
Komura who is on a weeklong visit to Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to hold talks
with the countries' Leaders, also call on Khin Nyunt to involve the NLD in
drafting a new 
constitution.
Regarding a new charter, one of the conditions for restoration of civilian
rule, Khin
Nyunt said his government wants to introduce democracy under a multiparty
system but 
it would take time.

Information Committee
Burma Youth Volunteer Association-Japan