[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

22/9/99:LETTER TO H.E.GURIRAB,PRESI (r)



Subject: 22/9/99:LETTER TO H.E.GURIRAB,PRESIDENT OF 54'UNGA.

POSTED 23-SEP-99, 6:00AM.

DEAR FRIENDS:

Time has come again to protest the Burmese delegation and H.E.Win Aung
to be excluded from participating UN General Assembly. Enclosed my
letter to the President of 54th Session of UNGA, HE Theo Ben Gurirab.
Please lodge your protest to H.E.Gurireb and all others who are
influential at the Assembly. Facsimile numbers provided.

Of recent concerned to me is some Burmese's tendency to ONLY watch
activists working. We do need the participation of every Burmese on the
list to write letters etc to the officials. I was informed, privately,
by some Burmese that they appreciate our work. Thank you. However, we,
the Burmese activists, still need other people's  participation in
writing letters.

Some encouraging sign over the year is more Burmese participating in
actual political debate on electronic forums. One thing to note,
however, is that the electronic forums are to be considered only as
efficient tools in disseminating information. To communicate properly to
the officials at the UN and Government Departments, we still need to
write on paper and send by mail/fax etc.

1) H.E.THEO-BEN GURIRAB, FAX:+1-212-685-1561
2) MR ALVARO DE SOTO, ASST-SECRETARY OF UN, FAX:+1-212-963-1395
3) H.E.RICHARD HOLSBROOK, US AMB.TO UN, FAX:+1-212-415-4443
4) MS DANIELA NAPOLI, CHIEF EC HUMAN RIGHT UNIT, FAX:+32-2-295-7850
5) HON.RAJSOOMER LALLAH, HUMAN RIGHTS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR,
FAX:+41-22-917-0092
6) BURMA DESK, U.S.STATE DEPARTMENT, FAX:+1-202-647-9519/3069
------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER TO H.E.THEO- BEN GURIRAB
PRESIDENT OF 54TH SESSION OF UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
------------------------------------------------------------

Dr U Ne Oo
18 Shannon Place
Adelaide SA 5000
AUSTRALIA

22 September 1999.

H.E. Theo- Ben Gurirab
President, 54th Session
United Nations General Assembly
Permanent Representative of Namibia to UN
135 East 36th Street
New York N.Y.10016, U.S.A.

Dear H.E. Gurirab:

        re: The Representative from Burma/Myanmar at the UNGA

I am a Burmese national currently residing in Australia. I call Mr
President's attention to Myanmar Military Government refusing to comply
the resolution of United Nations General Assembly. In this connection, I
enclosed my letter on September 1998 to the former General Assembly
President Didier Opertti.

During this year, the military government of Myanmar continue to refuse
to enter dialogue with the opposition leaders winner of the May 1990
General Elections in Burma. The military authorities continue to
detained many of those elected members since August last year. Some of
the opposition MPs have been released on the condition that they be not
participated in politics.

The military government of Myanmar is also refusing to have dialogue
with the U.N. Special Envoy. Mr Alvaro de Soto, deputy to the
Secretary-General, has been refused last month to visit Rangoon by
military authorities. In particular, the military authorities are
refusing to cooperate with U.N. Human Rights mechanism: the Judge
Rajsoomer Lallah, Special Rapporteur for Myanmar, has not been allowed
to investigate human rights complaints in Burma since his appointment in
1996.

More disturbingly, reliable reports indicate that Burmese military
leaders and their subordinates have been involved in common criminal
activities such as production and sale of heroin and
Amphetamine-Type-Stimulants to neighbouring countries and to the world.
In this connection, I enclosed relevant information papers for you.

I believe it is long overdue for UN General Assembly and UN System to
ensure military government of Myanmar comply with the GA resolutions. I
ask Hon. President and the 54th Session of U.N. General Assembly to take
first step in this direction and refuse to give floor at UNGA to the
military government appointed Foreign Minister, H.E. U Win Aung. Burmese
Foreign Minister, H.E. U Win Aung, should be allowed at the UN General
Assembly only if his appointment has been endorsed by Burma's Parliament
or its Parliamentary Committee -- Committee Representing the People's
Parliament (CRPP).

In closing, I thank President Gurirab for your kind attention to this
matter.

Yours respectfully and sincerely                                        
(U NE OO)
------------------------------------
Last Year's Letter to UNGA President, Didier Opertti (21/9/99)

Dr U Ne Oo
18 Shannon Place
Adelaide SA 5000
Australia. 

21st September 1998. 

Hon. Didier Opertti(Uruguay)
President, 53rd Session
United Nations General Assembly
UN Headquarters, New York NY 10017
United States of America. 

Dear Hon. President: 

I am a Burmese national currently residing in Australia. I call your
attention to
recent arrest and detention of elected members of parliament by Burma's
ruling
military council, State Peace and Development Council(SPDC: formerly
known
as State Law and Order Restoration Council), and, also, the lack of
progress
towards transfer of power to the democratically elected government. The
ruling
military council, SPDC, also fails-- especially in this year --to
cooperate with
United Nations to improve its human rights records. The United Nations
General Assembly(UNGA) since 1992 has been urging, through its
resolutions,
the military council in Burma to improve its human rights record and
also to
transfer power to democratically elected government. I therefore urge
the 53rd
Session of UN General Assembly to take appropriate measures to ensure
Burma's military authorities comply with UN General Assembly
Resolutions,
A/52/137. Beginning from early this month, the military council
unlawfully detain
nearly 800 opposition party members and supporters, including 195
members
of parliament elected in May 1990 General Election. These arrests on
opposition members are made in order to prevent the elected members from
convening the parliament. It should be noted that the military council
unlawfully
arresting the elected members of parliament to prevent participating in
such
political process constitute Burmese military violation of the Operative
paragraphs(5), (8)and(11) of UNGA Resolution A/52/137. 

Particularly in this year, the military junta has been refusing to
cooperate with
UN Secretary-General. For example, the Special Envoy of
Secretary-General,
Mr Alvaro de Soto, had been told off last January by military
authorities not to
interfere the "internal affairs" of Burma. Recently in August, the
military junta
refuses to accept the visit of Secretary-General's personal emissary,
Ambassador Razali Ismil of Malaysia and the President of 51st UN General
Assembly. The Burmese military authorities since 1996 do not allow the
Human
Rights Special Rapporteur, Mr Rajsoomer Lallah, to visit Burma. It
should be
noted that these non-cooperations of ruling Burmese military council to
United
Nations System constitute that council, SPDC, not complying in
particular of
the Operative paragraphs (1),(7)and(13) of UNGA Resolution A/52/137. 

Most disturbing point of all is that the Burmese military council has
not been
taking any step towards reconciliation and substantive dialogue with the
opposition party, National League for Democracy (NLD). Despite the
arrest of
and intimidation on its members and supporters by Burmese military
authorities,
the NLD has always been making effort to secure dialogue with the
military
junta. During July, Burmese military authorities preventing the General
Secretary
of NLD, Daw Aung Suu Kyi, from visiting to her party members. This
restriction along with recent detention of 195 elected members of
parliament
constitute Burmese military junta denying to provide the leaders of NLD
party
unrestricted c ommunication with and physical access to the party
supporters.
These violation, again, are the Burmese military council's failure to
comply with
the Operative Paragraphs(4)and(6) of the UNGA Resolution A/52/137. 

Notwithstanding such restriction and intimidation by ruling military
council, I like to inform Hon. President and the members of United
Nations General
Assembly that, a committee to represent elected members of parliament
has
been formed on 17 September 1998 in accordance with a proper democratic
procedure. The committee has the mandate of democratically elected
parliament as it is having the endorsement of the majority of
representatives and
also enjoy the support by ethnic minority rebel groups. 

I believe this is an appropriate time for UN General Assembly and UN
System
to ensure the military government of Burma comply with the UNGA
Resolutions. Furthermore, UNGA should make efforts to encourage parties
to
the conflict in Burma moving towards dialogue and reconciliation. As a
first
practical step, this 53rd Session of UN General Assembly must demand the
Burmese military council appointed representative, U Ohn Gyaw, to have
endorsement of democratically elected parliament. In the event of State
Peace
and Development Council fails to secure U Ohn Gyaw's appointment as a
Burma's Foreign Minister by democratically elected parliament, the
United
Nations General Assembly should refuse to give the floor to that Foreign
Minister. 

In closing, I thank you for your kind attention to this matter. 

Yours respectfully and sincerely,
(Sd.U NE OO) 

Copy to:
1. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations Headquarters, New York
NY 10017, U.S.A. 

2. Hon.Madeleine K Albright, US Secretary of State, US Department of
State,
Washington DC 20520, USA. 

3. Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, c/-UN Centre
for Human Rights, Palias des Nations, CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. 


-- 
HTTP://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~uneoo
EMAILS: drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx, uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
POSTMAIL: Dr U Ne Oo, 18 Shannon Place, Adelaide SA 5000, AUSTRALIA
[http://freeburma.org/[http://www.angelfire.com/al/homepageas/index.htm]
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =