Reuters-INTERVIEW-SPDC dogs seeks s

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Subject: Reuters-INTERVIEW-SPDC dogs seeks stability, then democracy 

INTERVIEW-Myanmar seeks stability, then democracy
03:52 a.m. Jul 26, 1999 Eastern
By Suzanne McElligott

SINGAPORE, July 26 (Reuters) - Myanmar is moving towards democracy but needs
social stability first, and will solve its problems without international
intervention, Foreign Minister Win Aung said.

He also repeated that the government had no intention to hold talks with
democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

``We must solve our problems on our own,'' Win Aung said in a weekend
interview with Reuters.

``We want to enjoy the fruits of democracy and we are working towards that,
but we are solving the problems which existed for a long, long time,'' he
said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN).

Myanmar's military rulers seized power in 1988 after crushing a
pro-democracy uprising and refused to recognise the results of a 1990
general election won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

They have long refused dialogue with Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate
who was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995.

Win Aung said the government did not intend to change its approach towards
Suu Kyi and her party's demand to convene a People's Parliament of elected
representatives.

He said Suu Kyi lacked a pragmatic approach to Myanmar's problems and her
policies were marked by ``confrontation and devastation.''

``She would like to see the country crumble and rebuild it from the ashes,''
Win Aung said.

He said Suu Kyi was Western-educated and that might explain why the West had
``come to the conclusion that only she can have the solution of our
problems, but it is not so.''

He stressed that cash-strapped Myanmar was in a hurry to catch up with its
more economically advanced neighbours and aimed to gain lost ground within
the next 10 or 15 years.

But he said Myanmar had been hamstrung by European Union and U.S. sanctions
aimed at forcing the ruling State Peace and Development Council to allow
greater freedoms.

Win Aung rejected media reports that Khun Sa, a notorious drug lord who
surrendered to the government and now lives in Yangon under military
protection, was trading drugs again, but added: ``If he is back in business,

we will take action. We are active in action against transnational crime.''