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Mandela Mediation in Burma (r)



Dear Kiru Naidoo, to quote recently an Asian diplomat telling Suu Kyi
and her dissidents to get with it and face reality, may I ask here on
what basis do you have any indication or any evidence to be positive and
optimistic that, as you say, the silence has been broken, -there has
been virtually no silence, just a lot of useless noise for too long a
time now, and no serious action. Everyone wants headlines, to be a great
heroic role model international superstar diplomatic winner, and break
the stalemate, and come out on top, the victor almighty wonderful
diplomatic rainmaker. Look at TOTAL now, singing the South African
Freedom songs, boasting how great they were in the days of apartheid,
and what role models they were for the new government helping Mandela
get on with the show. It would be interesting to know what payments
TOTAL has made to Mandela and the ANC, like Suharto? Do you know? 

sometimes facing reality hurts, but in the long run, what choice do you
have...

dawn star

Kiru Naidoo wrote:
> 
> Media Statement on Mandela's Mediation in Burma
> 16 June 1999
> 
> The deafening silence from the South African government on the crisis in
> Burma has finally been broken.  We are cautiously optimistic that our
> esteemed father and outgoing president, Nelson Mandela will consider
> lending his support to international efforts aimed at the restoration of
> democracy in Burma.  The Reuters report emananting from the South
> African Embassy in Bangkok will do much to raise the morale of Nobel
> Peace Laureate , Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.  The
> National League for Democracy (NLD) which is led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
> has faced increased repression in recent months at the hands of the
> military.  The students and refugees of the 1988 uprising who live a
> precarious existence on the Thai-Burma border can breathe a sigh of
> relief that South Africa has at last began to notice its plight.  We in
> the Free Burma Campaign believe that as recently liberated South
> Africans, we have a moral obligation to campaign for the liberation of
> oppressed people around the world.  International solidarity was one of

> the critical factors in our liberation from dictatorship.  We cannot
> stand by the sidelines while 40 million people in Burma live in fear and
> abject poverty because the military chooses to ignore the will of the
> people.  General Khin Nyunt and his delegation should not have been
> invited to South Africa unless it was to talk about the restoration of
> democracy.  Their being at the inauguration is pretense that all is well
> in Burma.  We urge the South African government to communicate its
> concerns to the generals.  We congratulate President Mbeki on his
> inauguration and urge his support for democracy in Burma.  Activists
> from the Free Burma Campaign are in Pretoria at the President's
> Inauguration appealing for his support. (Contact Dr Thein Win on
> 0828225693 / +27 82 822 56 93)
> 
> Issued by Kiru Naidoo  Free Burma Campaign (South Africa)
> 
> Kiru Naidoo
> Free Burma Campaign (South Africa)
> 
> P.O. Box 138
> Pavilion  3611
> Tel:  0825655286  /  +27 82 56 55 286
> Email:  kiru@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Info:  http://FreeBurma.com
> 
> Media Statement from Free Burma Campaign (South Africa)
> Burmese Dictator Not Welcome in South Africa
> 14 June 1999
> 
> President Thabo Mbeki's inauguration on June 16 is an occasion of great
> joy and celebration for all South Africans.  On the one hand it signals
> the deepening of our democracy and triumph over a racist dictatorship.
> On the other, it is emotional remembrance of our fighting youth who
> sacrificed their lives in the face of the brute force of the apartheid
> state on the streets of Soweto in 1976.  Given our proud democratic
> credentials, we are mystified as to why the South African government
> should want to find common cause with the military junta, which has
> ruled Burma since 1962.  The State Law and Order Restoration Council
> (SLORC) is represented at President Mbeki's inauguration by its
> intelligence chief, General Khin Nyunt.  SLORC's dictatorship is in
> defiance of the will of the people of Burma who in 1990 voted
> overwhelmingly in support of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
> The NLD is led by Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi , a fearless
> woman determined to be the voice of Burma's voiceless.  Daily life for
> the majority of Burma's citizens is a litany of human rights abuses
> including arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour , orchestrated
> rape and other forms of sexual violence. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has
> written about Burma as  the South Africa of the 1990s.  The people of
> Burma are crying out for our help.  Our own history compels us to
> respond.  We call on the South African government to sever its links
> with the military junta in Rangoon and deny the generals the legitimacy
> they so desperately crave.
> 
> Kiru Naidoo
> Free Burma Campaign (South Africa)
> P.O. Box 138
> Pavilion  3611
> Tel:  0825655286  /  +27 82 56 55 286
> Email:  kiru@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Info:  http://FreeBurma.com
> 
> > Mandela would consider Myanmar mediation-diplomat
> > 07:09 a.m. Jun 15, 1999 Eastern
> > By David Brunnstrom
> >

> > BANGKOK, June 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's Nelson Mandela would consider
> > acting as a mediator to break a deadlock between Myanmar's ruling military
> > and his fellow Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a South African
> > diplomat said on Tuesday.
> >
> > But the outgoing president would need a formal request from Suu Kyi's
> > pro-democracy opposition, said the Bangkok-based diplomat, who
preferred not
> > to be identified by name.
> >
> > ``He has indicated he is willing to act as an international peacemaker,
and
> > the Burma issue is one of concern not only to South Africa but to the
> > international community,'' he said.
> >
> > ``Maybe the opposition should be seriously considering making a concerted
> > effort to deliver a serious message of invitation.''
> >
> > The diplomat said the request could come from Suu Kyi or Myanmar's
> > pro-democracy movement as a whole and would need to make clear exactly
what
> > Mandela was expected to do.
> >
> > ``It would be a bit broad to say 'come and act as an intermediary'
while the
> > lines are not drawn,'' he said.
> 
> >
> > ``If in his mind he feels he has to act on it and has the resources to do
> > so, then he will. But it's better if we don't put the cart before the
horse
> > and say he definitely will -- it would pretty unfair to start raising
> > expectations.''
> >
> > The diplomat said the invitation of Myanmar's powerful military
intelligence
> > chief Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt for Wednesday's South African
> > presidential inauguration could be looked upon as movement towards such a
> > role for Mandela.
> >
> > This invitation has raised eyebrows among pro-democracy activists given
> > widespread criticism of Myanmar's human rights record which has provoked
> > U.S. and EU sanctions.
> >
> > ``They should see this as a first step of not necessarily embracing the
> > military junta officials -- no way, we can't do that -- but with a view to
> > opening up some kind of negotiations on behalf of the Burmese,'' the
> > diplomat said.
> >
> > He said South Africa had been under no obligation to invite Khin Nyunt and
> > the move could be compared to the contacts it established with Libyan
leader
> > Muammar Gaddafi -- something that provoked Western anger but helped
resolve
> >
> > the impasse over the 1998 Lockerbie airline bombing.
> >
> > ``Now everybody's moving into Libya wanting to invest and make business,''
> > the diplomat said. ``The belief in South Africa is that there is no
need to
> > isolate someone, to demonise a government if the channel to negotiating a
> > peaceful settlement exists.
> >
> > ``Let's monitor the situation, then maybe six months down the line
we'll say
> > 'oh maybe that's why they invited these people'.''
> >
> > Myanmar's rulers and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy have been
> > locked in a bitter battle of wills since the military bloodily crushed a
> > pro-democracy uprising in 1988 then ignored the results of a 1990 election
> > the party won by a landslide.
> >
> > The two sides blame each other for a lack of dialogue.
> >

> > Another diplomat suggested Mandela's interest in helping in Myanmar might
> > stem from shared experiences.
> >
> > ``What Suu Kyi has gone through -- of personal humiliation, and arrest and
> > all those things -- is something that he personally went through. So maybe
> > in a way there are some similarities, some parallels between their
lives.''
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> |   "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"   |
> |                           -  Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.   |
> |                                                            |
> |    Please support Aung San Suu Kyi and the campaign to     |
> |                restore democracy in Burma                  |
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