REPORT ON EU MISSION TO RANGOON (r)

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Do these people have names?
Moe wrote:> 
> EU MISSION TO RANGOON
> Source:EURO-BURMA OFFICE ,EUROPEAN OFFICE  FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRACY
> IN BURMA
> 
> A European Union mission visited Rangoon 5 July 1999. The mission included a
> senior official from Finland (representing the EU Presidency as of 1 July
> 1999), Portugal (representing the EU Presidency from 1 January 2000), the
> Secretariat of the European Council of Ministers, and the European
Commission.
> 
> According to limited information made known to the media, the objective of
> the mission is to explore ways to re-establish EU-Myanmar dialogue with a
> view to persuading the Burmese military dictatorship to improve its human
> rights record; persuading the junta to begin substantive political dialogue
> with the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi; and
> improving EU-ASEAN ties which has been at its lowest level ever since Burma
> joined ASEAN in July 1997.
> 
> The EU mission met with Lt.Gen.Khin Nyunt, Secretary 1 of the ruling State
> Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the regime's head of Intelligence;
> Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi; Khun Tun Oo, head of the Shan
> National League for Democracy, the party which won the second largest number
> of parliamentary seats in the 1990 general elections; and Col.Thein Swe,
> head of the regime's Office of Strategic Studies.
> 
> On 9 July, SPDC's Foreign Minister Win Aung said that neither the EU mission
> nor Nelson Mandela had offered to mediate to resolve the deadlock between
> the military and the democracy movement despite recent press reports. "We
> are trying to solve the problems by peaceful means by ourselves," he said.
> 
> Comment:
> The fact that the Finnish Presidency has put Burma on the top of its
> priority list is a major step forward for the cause of democracy in Burma.
> 
> The timing of the EU mission just prior to the EU's meeting with the
> Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) underlines the serious
> negative impact Burma' membership in ASEAN has had on EU-ASEAN ties. The
> issue of Burma, therefore, can no longer be ignored by ASEAN, and is a
> positive development.
> 
> This is the first time in two years that such a senior EU mission has been
> allowed to visit Burma. Given the EU and US ban on visas for senior SPDC
> members and their families, the Burmese military has in retaliation
> consistently denied visas to senior officials of the EU and US governments.
> It is also significant that the military agreed to the EU mission meeting
> both Aung San Suu Kyi and Khun Tun Oo. Regarding dialogue, we agree with NLD
> vice Chairman, Tin Oo, who commented, "There will be dialogue - nobody can
> avoid it. It is the solution."
> 
> End of Document