Myanmar hesitates in issuing visa t

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Myanmar hesitates in issuing visa to dissident's ill husband

Myanmar hesitates in issuing visa to dissident's ill husband

               March 18, 1999
               Web posted at: 8:42 a.m. EDT
               (0842 GMT)

               YANGON, Myanmar
               (CNN) -- The military
               government of Myanmar,
               formerly known as Burma,
               said Thursday it was
               reviewing a visa request
               by opposition leader Aung
               San Suu Kyi's British husband, who is suffering from
               prostate cancer. 

               But while the government, in a news release,
               expressed "great sadness" about the illness of
               Michael Aris, an Oxford academic, it also appeared
               unlikely the visa request would be granted. 

               "The government of Myanmar suggests that Ms.
               Suu Kyi, who is in perfect health, travel to England
               to respond to her husband's dying wish to see her.
               She has so far refused to go," it said. 

               The military has long sought a way to get Suu Kyi,
               the most prominent dissident to challenge the
               military rulers, out of the country. 

               The military regime took power in 1988 after
               violently suppressing pro-democracy
               demonstrations. It refused to turn over power to
               Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy after the
               party won a landslide victory in a general election in
               1990. 

               Won Nobel Peace Prize 

               Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for
               her courage in standing up to the military, has not
               left for the past 11 years. She fears she will not be
               allowed back should she leave the country. 

               "Dr. Aris has requested a
               visa to visit Myanmar to
               see his wife, which the
               government is currently
               reviewing," the
               government said
               Thursday. 

               "To undertake a trip to
               Myanmar under such
               (difficult medical)
               conditions... would appear to be both irresponsible
               and inhumane, and the government is reluctant to

               encourage or endorse such an action," the
               statement said. 

               Aris and Suu Kyi have not seen each other since
               mid-1995, shortly after she was released from six
               years of house arrest. 

               Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for
               Democracy, said Suu Kyi was very worried about
               her husband but could not leave Myanmar. 

               "The lady has been working hard for democracy, for
               the people and the party, she is worried about him,
               but she will never leave the country because she
               knows that if she does the military regime will never
               allow her to return." 

               He said Aris and Suu Kyi, who have been married
               27 years and have two adult sons, talk once a week
               by telephone. 

               A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the capital
               Yangon described the matter as "a humanitarian
               issue," and said there was strong hope in the
               diplomatic community that the authorities would
               issue a visa. 

               Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar's martyred
               independence hero, Gen. Aung San.