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Letter to South African Newspaper



Letter to the Editor of the Pretoria News
27 October 1999

Sir

Mr. Humphrey Khoza is a highly respected community and business leader
who in his capacity as president of the South African Chamber of
Commerce carries with him the flag of the South African business
community.  It was therefore a great disappointment to find him pictured
receiving a gift from a representative of the military junta of Burma.
(Pretoria News, 26 October 1999)  From the caption to the picture it
appears that Mr. Khoza is being duped into supporting bi-lateral trade
between the South Africa and the military authorities in Rangoon.

May I point out that Burma has been under military dictatorship since
1962 when democratic constitution was subverted forcing the country down
the road of ruin.  The military has shown no signs of relinquishing
power.  It simply goes around the world attempting to buy influence from
important people unaware of its atrocious human rights record.  

The arbitrary detention and torture of political opponents is
commonplace in Burma.  Soldiers routinely rape young girls and women. 
This is both in the form of sexual servitude for the military and as a
weapon of war against the ethnic minorities seeking self-determination. 
Ordinary people are forced to become porters for the military often
doubling as human mine sweeps by walking ahead of soldiers in the
heavily landmined border areas.  Forced relocation, extortion and other
human rights abuses are a feature of everyday life. This record of abuse
has been meticulously documented by international human rights groups,
the United Nations and various governments.  Furthermore, it is well
known that Burma is one of the world's largest producers of opium and
heroin in the world.  It is suspected that the generals benefit
financially from the trade in narcotics.       

The Nobel Peace Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who spearheads the
pro-democracy movement in Burma, has urged the international community
to isolate the military dictatorship in a desperate bid to urge them to
respond to the tide of democracy sweeping the rest of the world. Its
response in 1989 was to place her under house arrest.  Since her release
in July 1995, she has consistently appealed for dialogue with the
military authorities over the future of the country and its people.  
The generals have turned a deaf ear and continue to rule by fear. 

Last week COSATU expressed its solidarity with the Burmese people by
protesting the presence of members of the military junta at an arms
exhibition in Johannesburg.  As recently liberated South Africans, the
rest of us dare not be silent about the plight of the people of Burma. 
Mr. Khoza's stature will be enhanced by his returning the gift and
speaking out against the military dictatorship.

Kiru Naidoo
Department of Political Science
University of Durban-Westville


-- 
Kiru Naidoo
Director : Public Affairs
University of Durban-Westville
Private Bag X54001
Durban
4000 South Africa
Email  : kiru@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel    : +27 31 2045007
         +27 82 56 55 286
Mobile : 082 56 55 286
Fax    : +27 31 821873

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|   "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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