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A NOTE ON RECENT ARRESTS AND SENTEN



/* Written Sun 3 May 11:00am 1998 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* -------------" A note on recent arrests "------------ */

A NOTE ON CURRENT STATE:
************************
The recent arrests and harsh sentencing of political dissidents in
Burma accurately reflct the brutality of the military junta. On the
other hand, it also reflect the extreme nervousness by the Burmese
junta about current situation in Burma. The junta's principal aim
with regards to these arrests and sentencing appear to be to
discourage the Burmese activists contacting the foreign media and,
especially, UN personnel. This move by the junta may also be
interpreted as the preparation to allow - junta probably have no
more chance to refuse -- the Human Rights Special Rapporteur
visiting Burma.

It is now become even more evident that the policy for
reconciliation in Burma, at least at the international level, has
been successful. How much longer SLORC/SPDC can withstand the
oppositions' call for dialogue and reconciliation remains to be seen.

Concerning with the political dialogues in Burma, the major obstacle
continue to be the junta's unwillingness to talk. In a usual view, the
Burmese military leadership is seen in terms of "hardliner" and "moderate"
factions. Such approach seems credible especially when assessing the
conduct of military to the pro-democracy leaders and ethnic minorities.
However, with regards to the dialogue with the oppositions, the moderate
(General Khin Nyunt's) faction is a no better candidate. We can often seen
that General Khin NYunt is given some political space to manoeuver amongst
junta leaders. It can be noticed that, even with his reported complicity
in drug-dealings, General Khin Nyunt is largely escaped from political
attacks by the pro-democracy movement. This is simply because of the
democracy movement consider him as the possible candidate for the
dialogue. 

There appear to be two possible reasons the junta (moderate faction)
still do not enter dialogue with opposition. One is the junta's
mistrust about the opposition and politics. In general, the Burmese
military consider the politics or doing politics fundamentally as
the matters of playing tricks upon its opponent (many Burmese also
view the same, rather unfortunately). This trend in Burmese people's
thinking about politics, in my view, originates from Burma's colonial
past. Historically, the British had introduced politics to the
Burmese as a mean of maintaining power by manipulating divisions
in the population. This approach to politics - i.e divide and rule
politics - principally is antithesis to the politics of peace and
reconciliations.

Second factor is more to do with the Burmese Generals (especially
Gen. Khin Nyunt) personal jealousy about Aung San Suu Kyi in
particular. Unfortunately, we simply cannot help the Burmese Generals
to reduce such jealousy nor are we to reduce the popularity of ASSK.
We simply have to recognize such jealousy exists and move forwards
on the matters.

In recent months, the international pressure on junta has reached
to all time high. The Burmese junta's moves to soften the pressure:
such as recent drug-seimnar/UN-FAO meetings etc simply went
unnoticed by the international community and failed to get-up from 
the ground. Then again from our part, there are many more things that 
can be done, especially through the United Nations Security Council. 
We, the Burmese, continue to call all our friends' help on this matter.

With best regards, U Ne Oo.

___________________________________________________________________
!                     drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx                         !
!          http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~uneoo              !
!                    ***** NOW ALSO ON *****                      !
! http://freeburma.org/ (A one stop homepage for all Burma info.) !
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On 16 Apr 1998 uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> /* Written Fri 17 Apr 11:00am 1998 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
> /* ---------------" 15/4/98: Letter to UNSC "------------------- */
> 
> [To our friends on Internet, re: letter to the members of UN Security 
> Council, I am urging UNSC to put pressure on Burmese military government
> in order to get the Human Rights Special Rapporteur unrestricted access 
> to Burma. Please help write letters/faxes to Security Council Members. 
> Addresses of all permament members of UNSC are given below.-- U Ne Oo.]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
> *********************************************
> 
> Dr  U Ne Oo
> 18 Shannon Place
> Adelaide SA 5000
> Australia.
> 
> April 15, 1998.
> 
> H.E. Sir John Weston, KCMG
> United Kingdoms Ambassodor to the UN
> UK Mission to the United Nations
> P.O. Box 5238
> New York, NY 10150-5238
> United States of America
> (FAX:+1-212-745-9316)
> 
> Your Excellency:
> 
> I am a Burmese national currently residing in Australia.  I call Your
> Excellency's attention to the situation of human rights and the continuing
> political and military conflicts in Burma.  In particular, the Burmese
> military government has been refusing to undertake the terms of the United
> Nations General Assembly Resolution A/52/137 of 12 December 1997. Since
> 1996, the Burmese military government do not allow the Human Rights
> Special Rapporteur, Judge Rajsoomer Lallah, to visit Burma. In this
> connection, I also enclosed my appeal letter to UN High Commissioner for
> Human Rights. 
> 
> I also draw your attention to Burmese military government's unlawful
> arrests and continued detention of political opponents, especially the
> members and supporters of National League for Democracy(NLD) party. I
> particularly like to note that despite such repressions upon its members
> and supporters by the military, the National League for Democracy has
> always been commited to the path of reconciliation with the military
> authorities.  The sole obstacle to peaceful solution in Burma, therefore,
> is the continuing refusal by Burmese military to enter a proper dialogue
> with NLD. 
> 
> I also draw attention to the continuing cases of attack on unarmed Karen
> refugees in Thailand by Democratic Karen Buddhist Army(DKBA)---a rebel
> faction supported by the Burmese military. The DKBA in last month attacked
> and burnt down a number of refugee camps, killing four people and making
> thousands of refugees homeless. Such cases of attacks on refugees
> repeatedly occur since 1995. Recently, the Royal Thai Government has been
> seeking help from UNHCR for the refugee and displaced people from Burma.
> Therefore, it is urgent to put pressure on all parties to the conflict in
> Burma to end the military conflict. 
> 
> I therefore urge the United Nations Security Council to (1) authorize an
> unrestricted access for Human Rights Special Rapporteur, Judge Rajsoomer
> Lallah, to Burma in order to implement his mandate; (2) to encourage all
> parties in Burma to make political reconciliation and (3) to encourage
> Burmese military and rebel group to implement a nation-wide cease-fire. 
> 
> Yours respectfully and sincerely,
> Sd. U Ne Oo.
> 
> 1. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN, United Nations Headquarters,
> United Nations New York N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.
> 
> PERMANENT MEMBERS OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
> ***************************************************
> H.E. Bill Richardson
> United States Ambassador to the U.N.
> U.S. Mission to the U.N.
> 799 United Nations Plaza
> New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A
> FAX:(+1 212)415 4443
> 
> H.E. Mr Qin Huasun
> Permanent Representative of the
> People's Republic of China to the United Nations
> 155 West 66th Street
> New York N.Y. 10023, U.S.A.
> FAX:(+1 212)870 0333
> 
> H.E. Mr Sergey V Labrov
> Ambassador, Russian Federation
> Mission to the UNited Nations
> 136 East 67th Street
> New York N.Y. 10021, U.S.A.
> FAX:(+1 212)628 0252
> 
> H.E. Mr Alan DEjammet
> Permanent Representative of France
> to the UNited Nations
> One, DagHammerskjold Plaza
> 44th Floor, 245 East 47th Street
> New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.
> FAX:(+1 212) 421 6889
> 
> THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
> ****************************************************
> H.E. ABDOULIE MOMODOU SALLAH(GAMBIA)
> PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
> UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
> NEW YORK N.Y. 10017, U.S.A
> 
> /* Endreport */
> 
>