German's support to democratic move

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Press release of German Foreign Ministry , dated June 05, 1998. 

Minister of State Helmut Schaefer: Military regime in Burma must return to
democracy. 

On June 5th. '98 Minister of State in the German Foreign Ministry Helmut
Schaefer met 
with Dr. Sein Win, the leading representative of the Burmese opposition in
exile, to discuss 
the current situation in Burma. Schaefer stressed that the German Federal
Government 
will continue to strongly support the democratic opposition in their long
struggle for 
democracy and human rights. 
" In the 1990 general elections, the Burmese people gave the National
League for 
Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi the mandate to
form a 
democratic government. Ever since then, people have been waiting for the
military regime 
to do as it promised and to hand over power to the democratically elected
forces. Up to 
now, the military have done nothing of the sort. instead, they continue to
harrass the 
opposition and try to silence them by arresting members of the NLD. All
this must stop." 
said Schaefer. 
The Minister of State welcomed efforts by several ASEAN-member states to
put pressure 
on Burma which joined the regional grouping in 1997 in order to force the
military regime 
to carry out political reforms ant to improve the human rights situation in
the country. He 
assured the Burmese opposition that the German Federal Government would put
the 
Burma issue on the agenda of top-level political consultations between the
EU and ASEAN 
which will take place in Manila on July 28th./29th. 

unofficial translation by Burma Bureau Germany.

Nwe Aung