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Update on Rangoon 18



Saturday August 15

The Rangoon 18 arrived in Bangkok airport this morning to a heroes' welcome
and a mob of media, vowing to continue their support for the peoples of Burma.

They were met at the airplane by a senior representative of the Thai
Foreign Ministry who escorted them to a waiting crowd of family members,
friends, supporters and the media at about 0930 local time. Banners, flower
garlands and  flowers were bestowed on the returned members of the
Multi-National Peace-Making Team who were clearly relieved to be back in
Thailand.

After a joyful reunion amidst the crush of media, the 18 activists held a
brief press conference in a VIP room at the airport. 

Magsaysay award winner and renown human rights lawyer Thongbai Thongpao
welcomed the returned detainees. Mr Ong-Art Klampaiboon, secretary to the
Thai Foreign Minister, made a few remarks. Representatives of each country
group spoke briefly, all of them were focused on the situation of the
people in Burma rather than their own experiences. They all vowed to
continue working for democracy in Burma. It was obvious that their
detention served to strengthen their commitment to the cause. They wanted
the world to show the same concern and support to the people of Burma as
was shown to them.

US Congressman Chris Smith also spoke at the end of the press conference,
praising the activists and urging the Burmese regime to commence dialogue
with the NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The press conference ended at 1030.
Some members stayed on at the airport and flew home in the afternoon.

The remaining members of the Multi-National Peace-Making Team grabbed a
quick lunch and phoned their respective families and friends before heading
to Thammasat University to participate at a Seminar/Press Conference on
Democracy in Burma at 1300. In the meantime, they continued to field calls
from media all around the world while continuing contact with family and
friends.

The 2-hour meeting concluded with a special Thai welcoming ceremony usually
conducted for people who had survived an ordeal or hazardous journey.
Traditional Thai music played in the background as a host of well-wishers
queued up to tie white threads on the wrists of the Rangoon 18. By the time
the ceremony was over their wrists and fore-arms were covered in white
thread. It was a very special experience for the activsts and they hoped
that other detainees in Burma who have suffered more for much longer will
be able to have the same kind of welcome soon.

The activists ended their day with a dinner party. As of 2230 local time
they were last seen heading to a club to dance the night away prior to the
non-Thai friends taking flights back to their respective countries.

Altsean-Burma would like to express its appreciation for and admiration to:

* the Foreign Ministry of Thailand for their kindness shown to the
detainees and their families

* the Thai organisations that hosted the detainees and their familes and
did a wonderful job in mobilising support for the detainees

* the detainees' families and friends who were inspirational in their
response to this hostage situation and who campaign hard to secure their
release

* the sympathetic Embassies in Rangoon which supported the detainees, often
regardless of their actual natonality (unfortunately the Malaysians did not
have too many nice things to say about their own govt., while they
appreciated the 'kretek' Indonesian clove cigarettes supplied by the
Indonesian Embassy, the beer supplied by the Thai Embassy for the
detainees' farewell party and the t-shirts given by the US Embassy)

* the members of the Multi-National Peace-Making Team who persevered in
their quest to directly express their goodwill to the people in Rangoon and
who did not lose sight that the people of Burma mattered more than
themselves. The MNPMT also found many creative ways to get their message
across and were extremely effective in distributing them.

* the people of Rangoon who shed their fear and actively took or in some
cases, sought copies of the goodwill messages distributed by the detainees
- a total of 8,000 messages were distributed.

Altsean-Burma would also like to thank the Burmese military regime for
turning our friends into heroes and turning a minor activity into an
international incident. Altsean-Burma also appreciates the regime's efforts
to help publicise the Multi-National Peace-Making Team's efforts across the
country via TV and print media. Its over-reaction and patently illegal
actions in this regard has exposed to the world the true situation in Burma.

Altsean-Burma resolves to accompany the Multi-National Peace-Making Team to
Burma to distribute more copies of goodwill messages to people in and
outside of Rangoon - we look forward to the time we can do this in safety.
-----------------------------------
A L T S E A N - B U R M A
Alternative Asean Network on Burma
Tel/Fax: 66 2 693 4515 * <altsean@xxxxxxxxxx>