NEWS- EU Suggests Fact Finding Miss

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Subject: NEWS- EU Suggests Fact Finding Mission to Mynamar

EU Suggests Fact Finding Mission to Mynamar

               Reuters
               30-JUN-99

               BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - The European Union has
               proposed sending a mission to Myanmar before next month's
               ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting to look for ways to
               encourage dialogue between the ruling military and
               opposition, a European diplomat said on Wednesday. 

               The diplomat, who did not want to be identified, said the
EU
               had informed members of the Association of Southeast
Asian
               Nations (ASEAN) of the proposal, but there had been no
               response from Yangon. 

               He said the proposal was for a visit by a EU fact-finding
               "troika," which would comprise a representative of the
EU's
               common foreign policy position, the EU presidency and of
               the European Commission. 

               Myanmar's human rights record, in particular its
treatment of
               the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel Peace laureate
               Aung San Suu Kyi, has disrupted EU-ASEAN relations since
               Yangon joined the 10-member ASEAN in 1997. 

               The EU bars entry to senior officials from Myanmar and
says
               it will stick to this position unless there is a
"significant"
               improvement in Myanmar's rights situation. The ban forced
               cancellation of an ASEAN-EU foreign ministers' meeting
               earlier this year. 

               Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won Myanmar's
               last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the military
ignored
               the result and has decimated the party through a long
               campaign of arrests and intimidation. 

               The military and opposition blame each other for a lack
of
               dialogue. 

               In a report published on Wednesday, the London-based
               human rights group Amnesty International said the rights
               situation in Myanmar had worsened since it joined ASEAN. 

               It called on the regional bloc to put pressure on Yangon
at
               the ministerial meeting to be held in Singapore in late

July.