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THE NATION: (r)



Politics 

      Burma slams Thailand for
      not acting on protesters
      immediately

      BURMA yesterday attacked Thailand for
      not acting earlier in clearing protesters from
      outside its embassy in Bangkok, saying the
      demonstration in Rangoon had been
      dispersed in five minutes. 

      Burmese Ambassador to Thailand Hla
      Maung said Thai authorities should have
      moved faster in dealing with Burmese
      students who had camped outside the
      embassy since Aug 3. 

      Dissidents along with their Thai supporters
      had staged a sit-in outside the embassy on
      Sathon Road, demanding that the
      parliament be convened by members who
      had won the 1990 national elections. 

      The protesters had set Aug 21 as a
      deadline, after which some 18 people
      belonging to four groups camped outside
      the embassy on an indefinite hunger strike. 

      Burmese officials had lodged several
      complaints and Foreign Minister Surin
      Pitsuwan had been personally reminded, in
      writing, by Ohn Gyaw, his Burmese
      counterpart that Thailand was committed to
      the 1961 Vienna Convention, specifically
      Articles 22 and 25. 

      The articles require parties to ensure
      normal functioning of embassies and give
      due respect to their countries' dignity. 

      Thai police, picking up the leaders first, had
      rounded up the protesters earlier this week.
      All of the 16 Burmese students had been
      kept at a detention centre in Suan Plu.
      However, on the eve of Ohn Gyaw's transit
      in Thailand to change his flight to South
      Africa to attend the Non-Aligned Meeting,
      the detainees had been taken care of.
      Those who had entered the country illegally
      were deported through a safe point on the
      Thai-Burmese border and those under the
      Maneeloy camp in Ratburi were had been
      back. 

      Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak
      Chutikul said the United Nations High
      Commission for Refugees' representative
      was present to help the ''persons
      concerned'' but none of the detainees had
      agreed to be under its umbrella. 

      Agence France-Presse reports from
      Rangoon: Police moved out of Burma's
      historic Shwedagon Pagoda yesterday
      after finishing what they described as a
      ''clean-up'' of the Buddhist landmark,
      sources said. 

      Truckloads of riot police reinforcements
      had been moved into strategic sites around
      the capital on Wednesday, including the
      University of Rangoon, Shwedagon
      Pagoda and the Rangoon University of
      Technology, diplomats and residents said. 

      Residents said the police had left the
      pagoda yesterday, re-opening it to tourists
      and worshippers. 

      Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of
      opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
      maiden political speech, made at the
      Shwedagon Pagoda after her selection as
      a National League for Democracy party
      candidate. 

      Diplomats had said police seemed to have
      been stationed at places of significance for
      the opposition, including hot spots of
      student unrest in previous protests against
      the ruling junta. 

      The United States has stepped up efforts to
      highlight human rights abuses in Burma,
      with US Secretary of State Madeleine
      Albright calling regional leaders to express
      concern about Suu Kyi. 

      Albright telephoned the foreign ministers of
      Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and
      Thailand over the weekend to discuss the
      situation in Burma, where Suu Kyi has been
      barred from travelling outside the capital. 

      The Nation