Myanmar Still Holds Activists

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar Still Holds Activists

 .c The Associated Press 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Eighteen foreign democracy activists held in Myanmar
have failed to cooperate with authorities, prolonging their detention, the
military regime said Wednesday. 

The 18 were apprehended Sunday after distributing leaflets urging people to
remember a failed 1988 uprising against military rule. 

A government spokesman, in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in
Bangkok, Thailand, said he believed some were still being questioned
Wednesday, four days after their arrest. 

``Because of their lack of cooperation, the process has been unnecessarily
prolonged,'' the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. 

The government has accused the six Americans, three Thais, three Malaysians,
three Indonesians, two Philippine citizens and an Australian of trying to
incite unrest. 

It has not decided whether they will be charged with any crime or tried.
Deportation still remains an option, officials said. 

The U.S. Embassy made an official request Wednesday for the early release of
the detainees, an embassy spokeswoman said. 

Diplomats were allowed to visit the detainees Tuesday. U.S. State Department
spokesman James Foley said in Washington that all six Americans were in good
health. 

``They had no complaint about their treatment and appeared to have been
treated humanely,'' Foley said. 

The mother of one detainee, 19-year-old Michele Keegan of Hamilton Township,
N.J., said her daughter was allowed to present a ``wish list'' to U.S. Embassy
officials including items such as clean underwear, socks, shampoo, paper and
batteries for her Walkman. 

Callie Keegan said Wednesday in New Jersey that she was frightened for her
daughter, a sophomore at American University in Washington, D.C. 

``The longer it takes, the more fear I have,'' she said. 

Another of the American detainees, Anjanette Hamilton, 20, said in a fax to
her family that she is ``absolutely fine,'' her mother, Alison Hamilton, said
Wednesday in Portsmouth, N.H. 

In Manila, Philippines President Joseph Estrada urged Myanmar to free the two
Filipinos. Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai told reporters in Bangkok he
believed the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be fair in
seeking justice. 

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, however, said Wednesday in
Canberra that the detentions ``expose the regime in Burma in a way that it
deserves to be exposed and that is it's a regime that doesn't allow any
dissent, any discussion any debate.'' 

U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., Keegan's congressman and the head of the
House International Operations and Human Rights subcommittee, said he planned
to fly to Southeast Asia to seek the release of the detainees. 

The Myanmar government spokesman, however, hinted that Smith might not be
granted a visa. 

It was ``quite unfortunate'' that Myanmar had suspended issuing visas to U.S.
officials after Washington barred members of Myanmar's government from
visiting the United States, the spokesman said. 

President Clinton proclaimed the U.S. ban to sanction Myanmar for increasing
pressure on the pro-democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi. 

AP-NY-08-12-98 1722EDT