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AFP : 4 stories of foreign activist



Australian arrested in Myanmar is 35-year-old economics lecturer
Mon 10 Aug 98 - 02:15 GMT 

SYDNEY, Aug 10 (AFP) - An Australian activist arrested Sunday in Myanmar
during a protest to mark the 10th anniversary of a massacre was identified
here Monday as Sydney-based university lecturer Alison Vickary.
Her brother, Peter Vickary, said he had been contacted by Australian
foreign affairs officials who are trying to contact his sister in Myanmar.
But he said he had no further details on where she was being held or
whether she had been charged.
Alison Vickary, 35, who teaches economics at Macquarie University and lives
in Marrickville, was arrested in Yangon on Sunday along with 17 other
activists, understood to be from the United States and Asian countries.
"The Burmese government has acknowledged their arrest in a statement," Mr.
Vickary said, using a previous name for Myanmar.
"We have been contacted by the department of foreign affairs and trade, who
have indicated that they are aware of the situation and they are
endeavouring to make contact with my sister in Rangoon."
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Negotiations to free 18 foreign activists held in Myanmar
Mon 10 Aug 98 - 03:58 GMT 

YANGON, Aug 10 (AFP) - Foreign diplomats were Monday negotiating with
Myanmar's military rulers to try to win the release of 18 foreigners held
for distributing pamphlets promoting human rights, a senior diplomat said.
The 18 were still in detention in a central police station in the capital
Yangon and were healthy and being well cared for, the western envoy added.
"We are in talks with them now (the junta) and hope it will be resolved
very soon. One of the options is they will fly back to Bangkok," they said.
The activists were rounded up Sunday and accused of inciting unrest in the
country amid escalating political tensions.
The junta spokesman said in a statement Sunday that the 18 had been turned
in by citizens and taken to a police station for questioning.
"Various pamphlets and related materials aimed at inciting public unrest
were found in their hotel rooms," he added, saying "despite these efforts
for agitation" the country remained calm.
The detainees were picked up at "seven or eight" separate points, he told
AFP by telephone.
The detainees included six US nationals, three Thais, three Malaysians,
three Indonesians, two Filipinos and one Australian, he added. Ten were
male, eight female.
The brother of the Australian national, Alison Vickary, 35, said in Sydney
on Monday that he had been contacted by Australian foreign affairs
officials who are trying to reach his sister in Myanmar.
But Peter Vickary said he had no further details on where she was being
held or whether she had been charged.
The Thai foreign ministry has identified its nationals as Jaran Ditapichai,
52, a lecturer at Bangkok's Rangsit University, Sawas Upahat, 37, of the
non-government organisation (NGO) Forum of the Poor, and Chanakan
Phandemwong, 22, a student at Thammasart University in Bangkok.
A US embassy spokesman said Sunday the issue had been raised with senior
leaders and it was hoped consular access would be arranged.
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Rights groups demand Myanmar junta releases foreign activists
Mon 10 Aug 98 - 07:39 GMT 

BANGKOK, Aug 10 (AFP) - Human rights groups Monday said they feared for the
safety of 18 foreigners detained in Myanmar and demanded they be released
immediately.
The rights advocates said there was still no word from Myanmar's military
authorities about where the 18 democracy activists were being held or how
they were being treated.
Some of the people detained Sunday -- comprising six US nationals, three
Thais, three Malaysians, one Australian, two Filipinos and three
Indonesians -- had health problems such as asthma and allergies which could
put them in danger, they said.
"We have no idea where they are being kept and if they are safe,"
Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (Altsean) coordinator Debbie Stothard
said.
Foreign diplomats in Yangon were frantically trying to track down the
detainees, who were held Sunday for allegedly inciting unrest by
distributing leaflets promoting human rights and democracy, but said they
believed authorities would treat them well and had no concerns for their
welfare.
Amnesty International committee member for Thailand Somsri Hanananuntasuk
said: "We urge the Burmese government to release the 18 people immediately
 .. this is a serious violation of human rights."
However, diplomats said they could not confirm where they were being held
and some embassies had still to be formally notified.
Stothard said the group represented six different human rights and
pro-democracy organisations but were loosely organised under Altsean and
Forum Asia.
She said some of the detainees knew the risks they were taking by handing
out leaflets promoting human rights in Myanmar, which is ruled by a strict
military council.
"Some of them knew there was a possibility they could be arrested and took
as many precautions as possible," she said, although she could not
elaborate on the precautions or whether the activists had been arrested or
merely detained.
"We think it's about time the Burmese military authorities grew up and
realised that in the real world out there, handing out good-will messages
is a minor incident and isn't even worth noting," she told reporters at a
press conference.
The group told journalists and others of their plans days in advance,
including the precise time and places where they planned to hand out the
leaflets, prompting speculation from foreign diplomats that they intended
to be detained to draw international publicity to their cause.
The incident came just a day after the 10th anniversary of a brutal
military crackdown on democracy protesters in Yangon.
Tensions in Myanmar have been building for weeks, leading up to the August
21 deadline when the leading opposition National League for Democracyparty
of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has demanded parliament be
convened.
The NLD won 1990 polls by a landslide but the junta has refused to give up
power.
--------------------------------------


Activists maintain vigil at Myanmar embassy as tensions mount
Mon 10 Aug 98 - 08:36 GMT 

BANGKOK, Aug 10 (AFP) - Some 60 exiled students from Myanmar Monday staged
a streetside demonstration at Yangon's embassy here for a sixth consecutive
day, despite police pressure for them to disperse.
Protest co-organiser Zaw Wint said the detention of 18 foreign activists in
Yangon Sunday was further proof Myanmar's military authorities had no
respect for democratic principles or human rights.
"We have no idea what will happen to them but we are very concerned because
of our own experiences in Burmese prisons," he said, using the former name
of the country.
"They (the junta) do not care about other governments or other people," he
added, referring to pleas by international human rights groups for the
foreigners' immediate release.
Exiled pro-democracy groups have called for a mass campaign of civil
disobedience in Myanmar and warned of confrontation if the junta does not
convene parliament by August 21, a deadline set by the leading National
League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party.
The NLD, led by Nobel prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won 1990 elections
by a landslide but the junta has refused to relinquish power.
"I hope and expect that there will be demonstrations in Burma and that Aung
San Suu Kyi will soon take action," Zaw Wint said.
"But the government will try to kill any demonstration -- they have already
moved more soldiers into Yangon."
He said the Myanmar people were reaching breaking point, with many of them
surviving on meagre rations because they could no longer afford enough food
to feed their families.
As he spoke, Thai security officials asked the demonstrators to cease
shouting slogans and waving banners in front of the embassy's main gate.
The protest quietened soon afterwards but activists stayed seated on the
footpath outside the embassy walls, which were covered with images of Aung
San Suu Kyi and anti-junta statements.
Two Myanmar activists were arrested by Thai authorities Sunday for
immigration offences, the protestors said.
Thai student representative Chaithawat Khow said the Thai government had
avoided making a clear statement on the detentions of the foreigners in
Myanmar despite Bangkok's new policy of "constructive engagement" with its
neighbours.
"We would like the Thai government to state categorically how they feel
about this (the detentions) and the other political developments in Burma,"
he said.
"If they fail to do so then they will fail to support human rights and
democracy in Burma."