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LETTER TO UNSG& "ROAD TO MANDALAY"



> 
> /* Written Mon 15 Jun 11:00am 1998 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
> /* -------------" With a little help from our "--------------- */
> 
> WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS,
> LETTER TO U.N.SECRETARY GENERAL.
> ************************************
> 
> Last Saturday (13/6) Adelaide City and Unley(Adelaide) Amnesty
> International Groups have successfully held a Burma information
> night and fund-raising event for AI named "ROAD TO MANDALAY". There
> were guest speakers from both Amnesty International and Flinder
> University Political Science Department with interesting slide-photo
> show, of which the audience can feel what Burma is like.
> 
> The Burmese "Mohinga" was served on that night. My special thanks to
> the dedications of the members of AI City and Unley Groups, who have
> been able to prepare such authentic Burmese Food, of course, by the
> instruction of The Adelaide's Most Famous Burmese Chef -- i.e. me.
> More than 100 Guests seems to enjoy the Burmese "Mohinga"; many
> thanks for showing their appreciation to the Chef. Thanks for our
> friends in Sydney who are able to send "Sein Chit Tee" Burmese
> orchestra music in time.
> 
> Letters to the U.N. Secretary-General(sample enclosed) and petition
> to the SPDC/SLORC for the Burmese prisoners of conscience were
> signed on that night. The event was closed with the reading of
> excerpts from the famous writings of Aung San Suu Kyi
> "FREEDOM FROM FEAR". Thank you to all the friends from AI who
> have organized this wonderful event that help raised awareness
> about Burma among local population. --- U Ne Oo.
> ----------------------------------------------------
> 
> SAMPLE LETTER TO THE U.N.SECRETARY-GENERAL
> ******************************************
> /* Begin text */
> Amnesty International
> 1st Floor, Torrens Building
> 220 Victoria Square
> Adelaide, South Australia 5000
> 
> 13 June 1998
> 
> Mr Kofi Annan
> United Nations Secretary General
> United Nations Headquarters
> United Nations New York NY 10017
> United States of America
> 
> Dear Secretary General,
> 
> Re worsening atricities in Shan State, Myanmar
> ----------------------------------------------
> I am writing to call your attention to the worsening atricities
> committed by the armed forces of the government of Myanmar in Shan
> State in the eastern part of Myanmar. Amnesty International has
> documented these human rights abuses in its recent report "Myanmar:
> Atrocities in Shan State" (AI Index: ASA 16/07/98). The report
> gives details about hundreds of people, primarily from Shan ethnic
> minority groups, who have been killed by the Burmese army. The
> report also gives information about the forcible relocation of at
> least three hundred thousnad people in Shan State.
> 
> These atricities have occurred in the context of the Myanmar
> government's counterinsurgency campaign against the Shan State Army,
> an opposition group fighting against the government. The Myanmar
> government has made regular use of forcible relocation of the
> civilian population as a means of suppressing armed insurgency
> throughout the country. These forcible relocations have been
> accompanied by grave human rights violations, including
> extrajudicial killings, fatal illtreatment, and forced labour and
> portering. In spite of the fact that the Myanmar government
> concluded ceasefire agreements with most of the rebel groups in
> early 1996, fighting has continued in Shan State, and this has led
> to the profound deterioration in the human rights situation in that
> area.
> 
> One of the most disturbing of the human rights abuses has been the
> killing of at least three hundred civllians by the Burmese army in a
> series of massacres between mid-June and mid-July 1997. The massacre
> are reported to have taken place in Kunhing township in central Shan
> State. Because  independent human rights monitors -- including the
> UN HUman Rights Special Rapporteur -- and journalists have been
> denied access to these areas, the full scale of the tragedy cannot
> be accurately calculated.
> 
> I appeal to you to press the Myanmar military government to grant
> unrestricted access to Myanmar for the Special Rapporteur of Human
> Rights for Myanmar, JUdge Rajsoomer Lallah. I call on teh United
> Nations to pressure the government of Myanmar to improve the
> country's worsening record on human rights. In particular, I ask
> theat the Myanmar government be urged to put a stop to the practice
> of forced  relocation of Shan ethnic minorities. The Special
> Rapporteur should investigate all cases of extrajudicial executions
> and bring to justice those found responsible.
> 
> Thank you for your attention to these matters.
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> 
> Name:___________________________
> 
> Address:________________________
> 
> /* End-text */
> /* Endreport */

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