Burmese Students Denounce Japan For

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Myanmar students denounce Japan for providing loans

 .c Kyodo News Service    

BANGKOK, Feb. 27 (Kyodo) - The All-Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)
blasted Japan on Friday for its plan to provide loans to Myanmar's ruling
junta. 

''To the dismay and disappointment of Burmese democrats, the Japanese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs announced on Feb. 26, 1998, to resume official development
assistance (ODA) to the military junta in Burma, officially known as the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC),'' said the organization in a statement
issued in Bangkok. 

The ABSDF said Myanmar democrats viewed this decision as a boost to the cash-
strapped military government, which has been widely condemned for its human
rights violations against its own people. The organization said the assistance
would strengthen the military government's non-compromising stance toward the
democratic opposition. 

Japan is considering providing 2.5 billion yen in loans to the SPDC to help
repair the runway of the country's international airport. ODA was suspended
following the 1988 military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. 

''This decision comes at a time when all major international lending agencies
such as the World Bank, IMF (International Monetary Fund) and ADB (Asian
Development Bank) have stayed away from the SPDC,'' said ABSDF Secretary
General Aung Thu Nyein. 

The ABSDF urged Japan to reconsider its decision to reopen ODA assistance to
the SPDC, and to deny any assistance until the military government agrees to
open a substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic
minorities. 

The SPDC, formerly known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC), has been in power for 10 years and runs the country with an iron
rule. The junta has refused to recognize the landslide victory of the National
League for Democracy in the 1990 general election.