[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

12/12/97: AAP NEWS



/* AAP NEWS

# 13/12/97:BURMESE OPPOSITION NUMBER TWO DENIES RESIGNATION CLAIM
# 12/12/97:CLINTON WARNS OF HUMAN RIGHTS RISKS
# 12/12/97:GLANCE OF COUNTRIES WITH MAJOR REFUGEE POPULATIONS
# 12/12/97:CHIEF AIDE TO BURMA'S SUU KYI RESIGNS FROM HER PARTY
# 12/12/97:BURMA RESIGN 2 RANGOON
# 12/12/97:BURMA RESIGN 3 RANGOON
# 12/12/97:SE ASIAN NATIONS PERSIST WITH STRATEGIC BLUEPRINT  */

/* -------------------------------------------------------------- */
        ASIA: BURMESE OPPOSITION NUMBER TWO DENIES RESIGNATION CLAIM
BURMA RESIGN (CARRIED EARLIER)
   RANGOON, Dec 13 AFP - Burma's number two opposition figure today 
denied rumours he had resigned from his post over a dispute with 
National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
           Vice-chairman of the NLD Kyi Maung, while denying yesterday's 
reports that he had quit, said he would make efforts to lighten his 
duties as he was growing old and tired easily.
           "I have however decided to stay home and rest up a bit because 
I'm getting easily tired nowadays," Kyi Maung, who is 79, said 
today.
           "I shall be attending as few of the NLD functions as possible, 
including the regular CEC (Central Executive Committee) meetings," 
he said.
           Burma's military government yesterday said that Kyi Maung, one 
of Aung San Suu Kyi's top aides had resigned over the Nobel Peace 
Prize laureate's "confrontational" style.
           Kyi Maung served as NLD chairman following the arrests of other 
party leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, in 1990 when the party 
won a landslide victory in general elections which the country's 
military rulers ignored.
           AFP gl
/* ----------------------------------------------------------- */

        US: CLINTON WARNS OF HUMAN RIGHTS RISKS
US RIGHTS (NEW YORK)
   US President BILL CLINTON has warned of persistent human rights 
risks in Asia, Africa and Europe, and he's called for a permanent 
international tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity.
           In remarks on the eve of the start of celebrations marking the 
50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, 
CLINTON's said advancing human rights is -- and must always be -- a 
central pillar of America's foreign policy. 
           He's hailed the spread of democracy around the world but 
stressed that more remains to be done with human rights still at 
risk from Burma to Nigeria, and Belarus to China.
           And the president's pledged to make the US a better model of 
liberty and justice.
           The United Nations General Assembly adopted the human rights 
declaration on December 10, 1948 in Paris. 
           The UN celebrations will culminate on December 10 next year.
           AFP  RTV ts/rft/jn
/* ---------------------------------------------------------------- */
        US: GLANCE OF COUNTRIES WITH MAJOR REFUGEE POPULATIONS
UN REFUGEES GLANCE
   UNDATED, AP - A list of countries with major refugee and 
displaced populations.
           
           - Afghanistan: More than one million displaced internally by 
ongoing conflict. At least two million Afghan refugees in Iran and 
1.2 million in Pakistan.
           - Angola: More than one million still displaced after civil war.
           - Bosnia-Herzegovina: More than two million remain uprooted by 
the ethnic conflict.
           - Burundi: One million displaced by ethnic conflict or put in 
camps. Tens of thousands more in neighbouring nations.
           - Burma: Up to one million moved by military government. More 
than 100,000 fled to Thailand earlier this year.
           - Colombia: About 900,000 internally displaced by political 
violence.
           - Iraq: More than one million displaced in Kurdish and southern 
Shiite areas. Some 500,000 Iraqi refugees in Iran.
           - Rwanda: Estimated 250,000 Rwandan Hutus still missing in 
Congo, formerly Zaire.
           - Sudan: Estimated four million internally displaced by war and 
government policy and tens of thousands in neighbouring countries. 
Sudan also host to about 400,000 refugees from nearby African 
nations.
           AP jo
/* ------------------------------------------------------------------- */
        ASIA: CHIEF AIDE TO BURMA'S SUU KYI RESIGNS FROM HER PARTY
BURMA RESIGN
   RANGOON, Dec 12 AP - One of the two chief aides to Burma's 
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has resigned from her political 
party, the military government said today.
           Kyi Maung, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy, 
and one of Suu Kyi's most trusted lieutenants, resigned from the 
party because of conflicts with the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, 
a press release from the government said.
           Neither Kyi Maung nor Suu Kyi could be reached for comment 
because the military government has cut their phone lines.
           MORE br
/* ------------------------------------------------------------- */
        BURMA RESIGN 2 RANGOON
   Kyi Maung was one of the founding members of the NLD, and joined 
Suu Kyi every Sunday along with the party's other vice chairman Tin 
Oo, in giving pro-democracy speeches to crowds of supporters 
outside the Nobel laureate's Rangoon compound.
           The military government stopped the speeches in September 1996 
by barricading the compound with riot police.
           The government statement said Kyi Maung has stopped going to Suu 
Kyi's residence and ceased attending meetings of the party's 
executive committee, of which he is a member.
           The government statement said:
           "According to NLD sources, the reasons for his resignation from 
the NLD are such:
           "A. Conflict of attitudes between Kyi Maung and Daw Suu Kyi.
           "B. Daw Suu Kyi's insistence on a deliberate and confrontational 
stance against the government under the pretext of reorganising the 
youths in various townships.
           "C. Daw Suu Kyi's arrogance and insulting attitude towards the 
senior and elderly members of the party.
           "D. Daw Suu Kyi was against Kyi Maung's teaching of English 
language to the party youths.
           "E. Daw Suu Kyi purposely ignored the fatherly and parental 
advice of Kyi Maung on her behaviour exceeding the necessary and 
customary relationship with the male youths of the party."
           MORE br
/* -------------------------------------------------------------- */
        BURMA RESIGN 3 RANGOON
   Suu Kyi said recently the military government had been 
attempting to split her party by courting some of its high-ranking 
members and seeking to isolate her.
           Kyi Maung, who is 80, was once a colonel in the Burmese army, 
but resigned his commission in 1963. The previous year the army had 
seized power in a coup.
           Kyi Maung believed the takeover was only temporary to restore 
order, as the country was besieged by ethnic insurgencies and civil 
strife.
           When he realised General Ne Win, who led the coup, did not 
intend to restore civilian rule, he resigned.
           A significant percentage of NLD members are former members of 
the military, and are loyal to Kyi Maung and other former officers.
           Tin Oo is also a former army commander-in-chief and defence 
minister, and the party's chairman, Aung Shwe, is a former general.
           Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, led Burma to independence in 
1947 and founded the Burma army.
           AP gl
/* ----------------------------------------------------------------- */
        ASIA: SE ASIAN NATIONS PERSIST WITH STRATEGIC BLUEPRINT
ASEAN
   By Ranjan Roy
           KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 AP - South-East Asian leaders are to adopt 
a long-term blueprint for cooperation when they meet this weekend, 
a document that officials said had to be diluted because of the 
region's current turmoil.
           The Vision 2020 document, containing a commitment to deepen 
cooperation, both political and economic, will be released on 
Sunday, when the three-day Association of South East Asian Nations 
(ASEAN) summit opens, a senior official of the ASEAN secretariat 
said today.
           The decision to adopt a long-term perspective was taken at a 
summit in the Indonesian capital Jakarta last year.
           Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced in 1990 that he would 
declare Malaysia a developed nation - whether it is or not - by the 
year 2020. The ASEAN Vision 2020 purports to promote the entire 
region to developed status.
           Other officials said the plan foresees a South East Asian 
Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone of peace, freedom and neutrality where 
conflicts have been eliminated, disputes settled and the 
environment protected.
           It also envisages not only a free flow of trade after the ASEAN 
Free Trade Area (AFTA) is implemented, but a free flow of capital, 
investments and information helped by a regional information 
technology network.
           The steep fall in currencies, shaky stock market and loss of 
investor confidence is likely to make the group more cohesive, the 
ASEAN official said.
           The "contagion effect", which made one economy after another 
sick in the region, has led people to think of the nine ASEAN 
members as one region, he said.
           Economic ministers, accompanying the ASEAN heads, are likely to 
sign an agreement to enhance cooperation in the services sector by 
removing barriers on companies from one nation working freely in 
another member country.
           ASEAN groups Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, 
Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos and Burma.
           Cambodia has been promised membership later, and ASEAN is 
expected to receive a report by three members on the political 
situation there.
           AP gl
/* ------------------------------------------------------ */