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PRESS RELEASE (r)



At 13:51 10/02/99 +1100, you wrote:
>Free Burma Coalition, Australia
>
>ABC Condemns Downers Decision on Interpol Conference in Rangoon
>
>
>
>Media Release
>
>10th February 1999
>
>No Drug Carrots for the Military of Burma
>
>According to media and diplomatic sources the Australian Government intends
>sending 3 representatives to the Interpol Drug Conference to be held in
>Rangoon toward the end of this month.  In a letter to Mr Downer the
>Australia Burma Council said that Australia's presence would lend legitimacy
>to the regime and has asked him to reconsider his position on the issue.
>
>Despite a boycott from the US, UK, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark,
>Belgium, Italy and perhaps others, Interpol will hold its fourth
>international Heroin Conference in Rangoon hosted by the military
>dictatorship of Burma.  Madelaine Albright, US Secretary of State and Robin
>Cook, UK Foreign Minister have both publicly condemned Interpol for its
>choice of host for the 1999 meeting, accusing the body of "conniving with
>drug lords".
>
>Burma is the largest producer of heroin in the Asia Pacific region and is
>directly responsible for approximately 80% of the drug on our shores which
>kills Australian children every day.  They are also known to the world as
>brutal, incompetent and corrupt. In 1990 they staged and election, lost and
>then refused to hand over power to the winning political party, NLD led by
>Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They are considered by such bodies as
>the International Parliamentary Union, United Nations and International
>Labor Organisation to be one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world.
>
>Despite the fact that Canberra admits senior officials in Burma are involved
>with the production of heroin they fall short of including the generals of
>the brutal Council of Burma in the list of criminals.  
>
>Australia spends millions of dollars trying to stem the flow of drugs from
>the golden triangle, yet are prepared to spend more on a conference, which
>will embrace the dictatorship of Burma and leave them thinking their
>propaganda is being believed.  Australia's attendance and support of this
>conference will be an obnoxious admission of a softening of national policy
>and will bring no good to the people of Burma nor will it aid us in our bid
>to have a drug free society.
>
>Mr Downer must reconsider his position on this matter and refuse to allow
>Australian Federal Police to attend the Conference if Australia is to
>maintain a level of respectability and honour in the international community.
>
>Media Contact:
>
>Dr Myint Cho: Director, Burma Office, Sydney (02) 9264 7694 AH (02) 9682 5767
>
>Free Burma Coalition, Australia