Myanmar Under Fire as ASEAN, (r)

[enmasse_1@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Re:Myanmar under fire at ASEAN
==============================

Let's see what Ohn Gyaw said at the news conference.

>
>
>He said Suu Kyi has been barred from leaving the city boundaries ''for 
her own protection.''
> 
>
Is that true? You said it, so it must be. Don't retract it later. 
If that's the reason, we would like to expect the SPDC to allow all the 
NLD MPs come to Rangoon to see her whenever she wants to see them in the 
future.

>
>Ohn Gyaw reiterated the junta's allegations that the pro-democracy 
leader planned her trip to coincide with the string of ASEAN conferences 
in Manila to put pressure on the junta. 
>
>
Really, whose fault is it? Without doubt, highly predictable behavioural 
pattern of the SPDC is to be blamed.  

For example, whenever SLORC/SPDC imposes a news and media blackout, 
there will be bloodshed on the road.

Minn Kyaw Minn
==============



>From notes@xxxxxxx Wed Jul 29 09:47:41 1998
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>Date: 29 Jul 1998 08:06:27
>Reply-To: Conference "reg.burma" <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>From: RANGOONP@xxxxxxx
>Subject: Myanmar Under Fire as ASEAN,
>To: Recipients of burmanet-l <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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>
>Myanmar under fire as ASEAN, partners' meet ends
>
>.c Kyodo News Service    
>
>MANILA, July 29 (Kyodo) - By: Susanne Ganz The Association of Southeast 
Asian
>Nations (ASEAN) and its trade partners ended an annual meeting 
Wednesday with
>Western ministers blasting Myanmar's ruling junta for refusing to grant 
their
>ambassadors access to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 
>
>''The response is not satisfying and we hope that the foreign minister 
of
>Myanmar...can make it possible to de-block this unbearable situation,''
>Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, who heads the European 
Union
>(EU) delegation, told a joint news conference with his Asian and North
>American colleagues. 
>
>Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), a party 
colleague,
>and her driver have been sitting in her car on a bridge in the 
countryside
>since last Friday morning when police barred her from continuing a 
journey to
>Pathein, 200 kilometers to the west of Yangon. 
>
>Some diplomatic mission heads and foreign correspondents in Yangon were 
taken
>Sunday to the spot some 32 km outside the city where the NLD car is 
halted,
>but were not permitted to get out of their cars and speak with her. 
>
>In a meeting Wednesday with Myanmar Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, 
ministers from
>the EU, Japan, the United States and other developed nations expressed 
their
>concern over the prolonged standoff and requested that two Western 
ambassadors
>be allowed to speak with Suu Kyi. 
>
>Ohn Gyaw confirmed at the news conference that the military government 
had
>turned down the request. 
>
>''At this juncture the meeting of the Japanese ambassador and U.S. 
charge
>d'affaires with Aung San Suu Kyi is not urgently needed,'' Ohn Gyaw 
said in
>quoting a message from the junta. 
>
>Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer voiced disappointment at 
the
>refusal and said Australia would continue to press for such a meeting. 
>
>U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who did not attend the news
>conference, expressed concern over the health of Suu Kyi on Wednesday. 
>
>Ohn Gyaw, who was grilled by reporters over the junta's treatment of 
Suu Kyi
>after evading the press throughout the meeting, insisted that the 
military has
>its own ways to resolve the standoff. 
>
>He said Suu Kyi has been barred from leaving the city boundaries ''for 
her own
>protection.'' 
>
>Ohn Gyaw reiterated the junta's allegations that the pro-democracy 
leader
>planned her trip to coincide with the string of ASEAN conferences in 
Manila to
>put pressure on the junta. 
>
>The NLD won Myanmar's general election in 1990 in a landslide, but the 
junta
>has refused to recognize the results and hand over power. 
>
>Following the news conference, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak 
Chutikul
>voiced frustration at the reluctance within ASEAN to exert more 
pressure to
>bring about democratic change in Myanmar. 
>
>''We can see how the Burma (Myanmar) issue has come to dominate ASEAN
>meetings. This diverts attention from other more pressing issues. It 
affects
>the image of ASEAN as a whole,'' he said. 
>
>Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, however, insisted that ASEAN 
stay out
>of the debate. ''If you start telling another country that 'this is how 
you
>should run your country,' that's intervention,'' he said. 
>
>Other issues that were discussed at the string of meetings this year 
included
>the recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, Sunday's general 
election in
>Cambodia and the regional economic and financial crisis. 
>
>In his closing remarks, Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon 
said the
>participants agreed to put in place programs designed to assist crisis-
>battered countries cushion the social impact of the region's economic 
malaise.
>
>ASEAN groups Bruei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the 
Philippines,
>Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The dialogue partners are Australia, 
Canada,
>China, the 15-member EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea 
and
>the U.S. 
>
>


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