AFP-Myanmar junta defends expulsion

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Myanmar junta defends expulsions of foreign journalists
Wed 19 Aug 98 - 11:56 GMT 

YANGON, Aug 19 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta Wednesday defended its expulsion of
two foreign journalists, saying the pair had broken the law by declaring
themselves as tourists.

"Most countries have laws controlling foreign journalists," a junta
official told AFP. 

"Why shouldn't we?"

Most Asian countries, along with many elsewhere in the world, require
journalists to obtain appropriate visas. However, the rules are often
flouted and foreign journalists are regularly detained around the globe for
immigration offences.

The international journalists rights group Reporters San Frontiers said
French national Romain Franklin, employed by the daily Liberation, was
expelled from Yangon on August 17 while Italian freelancer Maurizio
Giouliano was deported on the same date.

Myanmar maintains tight controls over foreign journalists and they must
seek official visas in advance.

Scores of foreign journalists have poured into Myanmar in recent weeks amid
escalating political tensions, but officials said they would be ignored if
they were discreet and did not threaten security.

"We know they are here," another senior junta official told AFP.

"They can come once, they can come twice but after that they won't come
back again."