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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