Reuters : U.S. says New Zealand joi

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

U.S. says New Zealand joins in pressing Myanmar 
04:19 a.m. Aug 01, 1998 Eastern 

AUCKLAND, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said
on Saturday New Zealand's foreign minister had agreed to join her in
pressing U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan for ``urgent'' intervention on
Myanmar. 

Albright said the minister, Donald McKinnon, ``and I are going to be in
touch with the secretary-general later in order to discuss the urgency of
the situation'' in the South Asian country after military rulers forcibly
ended a protest by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Her comments, at a news conference, seemed intended to keep the pressure on
Annan for action amid hints he may not be moving fast enough for the U.S.
secretary of state. 

Albright said in Sydney on Friday that she and Australian Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer had asked Annan ``to become personally involved'' in
persuading the country's military government to open a dialogue with Suu
Kyi. 

She said Annan agreed to ``take a very careful look'' at the proposal. 

At the news conference on Saturday, Albright said that in the Friday
conversation she and Downer ``made clear that we felt that the situation
(in Myanmar) was one that was increasingly dangerous and that needs his
personal attention.'' 

``I'm very glad that Foreign Minister McKinnon feels the same way,'' she
said. 

Annan spoke by telephone on Friday to Michael Aris, the husband of Suu Kyi,
a Nobel Peace Prize winner and head of Myanmar's opposition National League
for Democracy. 

Earlier this week, Annan announced he would send Alvaro De Soto, assistant
secretary-general for political affairs, to Myanmar if the government would
set a date. U.N. officials said there had been no response from Yangon. 

De Soto has made several trips to Myanmar but has made little progress with
the government, which has been shunned by the West for almost a decade. 

U.N. officials do not expect Annan to visit the country. The military has
so far failed to respond to appeals to move toward democracy by the U.N.
General Assembly or in negotiations with senior U.N. officials. 

Earlier this week, in a move that drew sharp international criticism,
Myanmar's military authorities forced Suu Kyi to end a six-day sit-in
protest in a car outside the capital Yangon after she and three associates
were prevented from travelling to a meeting with her supporters.