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Burmese pro-democracy activists seek UN intervention

Date : November 6, 1998
MIZZIMA News Group

	"United Nations, Save Burma" "We Want Democracy". About 40
slogan-shouting Burmese pro-democracy activists gathered at Teen Murti in
Delhi's diplomatic area this morning. They staged a noisy demonstration
for one and half hour, seeking United Nations' effective intervention in
Burma. Burma is currently facing the political stand off between the
ruling military regime and National League for Democracy (NLD). UN deputy
secretary-general, Mr. Alvaro de Soto was recently in Burma and met both
military leaders and NLD's leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in his
four-day visit which was ended on 30th October. Even though his report to
the secretary-general Kofi Annan are not made public yet, Burmese
pro-democracy activists hope that United Nations will be actively involved
in solving Burma's political deadlock in near future. "We want the United
Nations to intervene actively this time and take effective actions against
the military junta to respect the people's verdict of 1990 elections",
said a Burmese student activist who participated in the demonstration. He
has been in exile in India for more than ten years. "We also want the
current 53rd session of United Nations General Assembly to have an
effective resolution on Burma so that the military government will take
concrete steps for restoration of democracy in Burma", said another
demonstrator. 

The United Nations General Assembly has been adopting resolutions on Burma
since 1992 in favour of democratic changes. The resolutions urged the
Burmese government to enter a substantive political dialogue with the NLD
and representatives of ethnic groups. But, Burmese government has not
listened to it yet. In his interim report submitted to the current UN
General Assembly on the situation of human rights in Burma, UN Human
Righst Commission's Special Rapporteur Rajsoomer Lallah mentioned that
human rights violations in Burma remain extremely serious and Burmese
government "has not implemented its commitments to take all necessary
steps towards the establishment of a democratic order".