NEWS - Leading Powers Warn Myanmar

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Leading Powers Warn Myanmar on Suu Kyi, Urge Talks

            Reuters
            28-JUL-98

            MANILA, July 28 (Reuters)- Leading powers on Tuesday warned
            Myanmar against allowing a standoff with opposition leader
Aung San
            Suu Kyi to escalate and offered to help in resolving
tensions in the
            Southeast Asian country, U.S. officials said. 

            Diplomats said the United States, the European Union,
Canada,
            Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea confronted
            Myanmar's foreign minister during an informal meeting on the
fringes
            of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual
            conference. 

            The minister, U Ohn Gyaw, was instructed to take the firm
message
            back to Yangon and the international community expected a
response,
            diplomats said. 

            ``A number of foreign ministers felt it was important while
gathered in
            one place to talk about the situation (in Myanmar with Suu
Kyi) first
            amongst themselves and then with the Burmese foreign
minister,'' a
            senior U.S. official told reporters. 

            He said the ministers expressed concern about the National
League
            for Democracy leader's health and stressed ``the fact that
they don't
            want this to escalate and that this incident needs to be
resolved.'' 

            For the fifth day, Suu Kyi remained in a car on a road
outside the
            capital of Yangon because the ruling military junta has
refused to let
            her travel to meet other members of her party, which won an
election in
            1990 but has not been allowed to take office. 

            U.S. officials said she had her first direct contact with
the military since
            the incident began when she got out of the car on Tuesday to
ask for
            water and was given it. But it did not appear a dialogue or
negotiation
            was under way, they said. 

            U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday
expressed
            grave concerns about the Nobel Peace Prize winner's health
and said
            the military junta would be held directly responsible for
her wellbeing.
            On Tuesday, Albright reported that ``her health is okay.'' 

            A senior U.S. official said the opposition leader was seen
by two
            physicians and ``there are no problems that we know of,''
although
            concerns remain because she has been in the car in the
blistering
            heat. 

            The ministers told their Myanmar counterpart they want
permission for
            diplomats based in Yangon to visit Suu Kyi and talk to her
``and see if
            there is any way the international community can be helpful
in
            brokering a solution,'' the U.S. official said. 

            Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, representing
the
            European Union, said they had called for the American and
Japanese
            ambassadors in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to
undertake this
            mission. 

            ASEAN nations-- Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Vietnam, Laos,
            Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei-- were not included in the
session
            with the Myanmar minister. ``This was a conscious decision
not to put
            the ASEANS on the spot,'' an American official said. 

            In addition to humanitarian concerns about Suu Kyi's health,
the
            ministers argued that as a matter of principle citizens of
Myanmar
            should be able to travel freely. 

            And they also drove home their consistent call for a
dialogue between
            the military authorities and the opposition to resolve the
country's
            political stalemate, officials said. 

            Albright, in a speech on Monday, warned of the increasing
possibility
            of a political ``explosion'' in Myanmar that could undermine
regional
            stability. 

            She said conditions in Myanmar-- including repression, a
declining
            economy, narcotics trafficking and an AIDS epidemic-- had
worsened
            in the past year. ``This is a moment of truth and of urgency
for Burma
            and for all of us concerned about its fate,'' she added. 

            Yangon's military government hit back at Albright, saying
the U.S.
            ``accusations, allegations and condemnations thrown against
            Myanmar is a typical way of a sole superpower carrying out a
witch
            hunt.'' 

            But the United States has not been alone in its attacks on
the military
            regime. At the Manila meeting the European Union and
Australia,
            among others, have expressed serious concern over human
rights in
            Myanmar, where the military crushed a pro-democracy movement
a
            decade ago with the loss of many lives. 

            On the session with the Myanmar foreign minister, Canadian
Foreign
            Minister Don McKinnon said: ``We made it clear there is an
urgent
            need to resolve the situation and allow Aung San Suu Kyi
freedom of
            movement within her own country.'' 

            ``We would like once again to strongly appeal to the
leadership in
            Yangon/Rangoon to enter into a result-oriented dialogue with
the
            opposition,'' Schuessel told the foreign ministers of the
nine-member
            Association of South East Asian Nations. 

            Delegates at the Manila conference on Asian security issues
have
            depicted Myanmar's foreign minister as a lonely man who
seldom
            speaks. 

            ``I think Burma is pretty isolated. Even the other ASEAN
countries
            don't understand them,'' one European diplomat told Reuters. 

            Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon, who chaired the
            conference here, on Monday recalled how Filipinos had used a
            ``people power'' revolution to overthrow a dictator,
Ferdinand Marcos,
            in 1986. 

            He told a news conference: ``I lamented the other day the
presence of
            many well-educated Burmese who studied abroad but they are
not in
            the country. They are staying out as life abroad is good.
Now I said if
            you are really serious and wanting to change the situation
in the
            country you should back and change it from within.'' 

            Referring to the Philippine experience, Siazon added: ``Of
course you
            risked life and limb, but that is part of the process.''