News from India newspaper(THE HINDU

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"Rights group denounces violence in Myanmar"

Manila, Feb, 17: An Asian women's rights group today denounced unabated
violence perpetrated by Myanmar's military junta against its people,
particularly women and ethnic communities, and demanded immediate
changes in the Government.
 At the start of the three-day visit to Manila by Myanmar's senior
General Than Shwe, the Asian Women's Human Rights Council (AWHRC) said
the root cause of the violence and crisis affecting the Myanmarese
people was the Myanmarese Government.
 Consequently, AWHRC urges the Philippine Government and other
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asian countries to
bring pressure to bear on the Myanmarese Government to restore peace and
human rights in Burma, the council said.
In a statement released before Gen. Than Shwe was to arrive in Manila,
the AWHRC said the change in the name of the notorious State Law and
Order Restoration Council"(SLORC) into the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) did not mean anything.
 "There has been no change in the practice of ethnic persecution nor
have we seen any initiatives from the ruling Myanmarese Government to
alleviate the violence conditions in which the Myanmarese people live,"
the Council said.
 The group said torture, forced labor, illegal detention, rape of
Myanmarese women, suppression of political and personal freedom, summary
executions and annihilation of ethnic communities were still being
systematically carried out by the SPDC.  (DPA)

"THE HINDU " NEWSPAPER
Date February 18, 1998.