Suu Kyi Fault Japan Aid to Regime

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Suu Kyi Faults Japan Aid to Myanmar

 .c The Associated Press 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has condemned Japan
for loaning money to Myanmar's military government, saying that will encourage
the regime to continue violating human rights. 

The Japanese government's decision ``belittles human rights in this year that
commemorates the golden anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights of the United Nations,'' Suu Kyi wrote in her syndicated newspaper
column, a copy of which appeared Wednesday on the Internet. 

Japan granted a $19.5 million loan to Myanmar, also known as Burma, in
February to pay for repair on a runway at the international airport in the
capital, Yangon. 

Japan, along with many Western countries, cut off all aid to Myanmar in 1988
when the military gunned down pro-democracy demonstrators. Most have made
improvement in Myanmar's human rights record a condition for restoring it. 

``The resumption of aid will doubtless be used by vested interests to claim
there has been an improvement in the human rights record in Burma,'' Suu Kyi
wrote. 

The Japanese government said the aid was limited to the airport repair project
and was based on concerns over safety - a claim Suu Kyi disputed. 

``I understand that the International Civil Aviation Organization is of the
opinion that the safety features for which the Japanese money will be used are
not essential. This makes the decision of the Japanese government difficult to
understand,'' she wrote. 

Suu Kyi also detailed a series of arrests of members of her political party by
the military government in recent months, and said they had not been given
access to lawyers or family members before being sentenced to long prison
terms. 

AP-NY-04-08-98 1417EDT