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-------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINES -------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - UN envoy to visit Myanmar despite Aung San Suu Kyi arrest AFP - Activists concerned over "major crackdown" on democracy in Myanmar AFP - Myanmar's democracy hopes evaporate with Aung San Suu Kyi arrest AFP - Myanmar junta mounts major crackdown on NLD after Aung San Suu Kyi arrest AP - Thai village leader charged for murder of Myanmar workers AP - Myanmar military thug shut down the Universities again Reuters - Concern about fate of Suu Kyi Kyodo News - 7 more NLD leaders in Yangon placed under house arrest Channel NewsAsia - Arrests of Myanmar opposition highlight need for national reconciliation: Annan TI - Universities shut after Suu Kyi detention Asian Tribune - Concerted Action Urgently Needed To Counter The Crackdown By The Burmese Junta. -------------------------------------------------------------- UN envoy to
visit Myanmar despite Aung San Suu Kyi arrest -------------------------------------------------------------- Activists concerned over "major crackdown" on democracy in Myanmar Sun Jun 1, 2:49 AM ET
WASHINGTON, June 1 (AFP) - Activists in the United States expressed concern Sunday over what they termed a "major crackdown" on the democracy movement in Myanmar and a possible attempt to assassinate opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. According to the military rulers, she was put under "protective custody" in northern Myanmar along with 18 members of her entourage after clashes between her supporters and a pro-junta mob Friday left four dead and 50 injured. The opposition leader had been on a month-long political tour of Myanmar's north during which she had been subject to "intensifying attacks perpetrated by the political arm of the regime," the US-based activists said. "Throughout her trip she's been consistently harassed by members of the USDA," the junta-sponsored Union Solidarity Development Association, said Jeremy Woodrum, Washington director of the Free Burma Coalition (FBC). Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers "don't ever, ever use violence," he insisted, challenging the government's characterization of the incident Friday. "The military regime is trying to make it seem as if there are people inside the country who oppose Aung San Suu Kyi. In their official version of events they'll state that there was a clash between Suu Kyi and people who don't like her," he said. "The two sides going at it -- that's impossible to imagine," he added. Members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and villagers were merely attempting to defend themselves, FBC said. The incident could well have been an attempt to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi, said Aung Din, a former political prisoner in Myanmar who is policy director for FBC. "According to CNN news and sources inside Burma, there was a gunshot, so this is an attempt to assassinate our leader," Aung Din said. CNN had reported that Aung San Suu Kyi's car was hit by gunfire. "In Burma nobody is allowed to own a weapon except for members of the armed forces and the police," he said. Aung San Suu Kyi departed on the trip to northern Myanmar on May 6, the first anniversary of her release from 19 months under house arrest, and had been due to return to Yangon on June 4. Despite attempts to intimidate her supporters in northern Myanmar, they turned out "wholeheartedly to welcome her," Aung Din said. "This is the thing that the regime is scared of, the solidarity between Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma." Following the arrest NLD offices across the country were padlocked, office equipment was confiscated, and party flags and photos were torn down, he said. Top NLD leaders were put under house arrest, he added, including NLD chairman U Aung Shwe and NLD secretary and spokesman U Lwin. "This is major crackdown on the democracy movement inside Burma," he said. Junta sources confirmed Sunday that seven top leaders of the NDL had been put under house arrest and all major party offices had been closed. Myanmar's state-run press was openly critical of Aung San Suu Kyi over the weekend, while the government blamed the outbreak of violence directly on her. "These incidents happened because Aung San Suu Kyi had taken advantage of her party organisational trip to campaign publicly, thereby making many people resent her actions," Labour Minister Tinn Win told reporters Saturday. In Kuala Lumpur, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar said Sunday his upcoming visit to Yangon would go ahead despite the developments there. Former Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail was expected in Myanmar from June 6 to 10 in an attempt to start substantive political dialogue between the country's generals and the NLD. "We were expecting that they would do some kind of negotiation," Aung Din said of Ismail's visit. "Now we have lost that expectation." -------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's democracy hopes evaporate with Aung San Suu Kyi arrest Sun Jun 1, 2:49 AM ET
BANGKOK, June 1 (AFP) - Myanmar's democracy struggle has suffered a dramatic setback with the arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a crackdown on her party at the hands of the military government, analysts said Sunday. Contacts between the ruling generals and the Nobel peace laureate, which were announced with much fanfare in October 2000, lie in tatters after a clash in northern Myanmar between democracy supporters and a pro-junta mob left four dead. Just over a year after she was released from 19 months under house arrest, the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has again been detained, by authorities in northern Sagaing division where she had been on a political tour. Government spokesman Brigadier General Than Tun who announced the events Saturday expressed confidence that the fledgling peace process, which observers believed was already on extremely shaky ground, would not be completely derailed. "Although these incidents instigated by the NLD will adversely affect national reconciliation, we do not consider that this will stop the dialogue," he said. But observers said that with all major NLD offices across the country shut down and the NLD's leadership under house arrest in Yangon, there was little room for hope of democratic reforms in Myanmar. "Even with much less than this, there would be deep cause for concern," said an observer familiar with the reconciliation process brokered in October 2000 by UN special envoy Razali Ismail. "It's very difficult to imagine anything positive will come of this. No one has any direct news from Suu Kyi, she is cut off and it seems she has been forbidden all types of outside contact." The observer said he expected that in the next few days the government would order new restrictions against the NLD, leaving it "totally forbidden" and blocked from carrying out party business. Diplomats in Yangon said the regime appeared to be rolling back progress made in recent years after realising its minor concessions would not yield significant rewards like the lifting of international sanctions. "They expected a lot more from the West in terms of the response... they are perhaps disappointed that they didn't get more out of it," said one diplomat, adding that the generals "never really had any intention of going further". "If they are rounding up the (leadership in Yangon) it's very difficult to work out what they're thinking and why they're doing it. The timing is quite extraordinary." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest showed the urgent need for national reconciliation in Myanmar, which has languished under four decades of military rule and mismanagement. His special envoy Razali, who is due to arrive in Yangon for a five-day mission on June 6, insisted Sunday he would press on with his plans despite the tense atmosphere. Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in May 2002 with a promise from the junta that she would be allowed to travel freely around the country, lifting a ban that had confined her to Yangon. She embarked on a series of political tours designed to revive her party which had come close to collapse as the junta waged a campaign of intimidation. The charismatic leader attracted crowds of thousands of adoring supporters wherever she went, in scenes that undoubtedly unnerved the military regime which is terrified by the prospect of a popular revolt. With each new trip, the climate became increasingly hostile and on the latest tour of the north, the NLD and pro-junta groups traded accusations of harassment and unruly behaviour. Both the United States and Britain have expressed concerns over the treatment meted out to the NLD leader, whose party won 1990 elections by a landslide but has never been permitted to rule by the military. -------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday June 1, 3:03 PM -------------------------------------------------------------- Thai village leader charged for murder of Myanmar workers
-------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar military thug shut down the Universities
again -------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Jun 2003 10:34 BST
Concern about fate of Suu Kyi By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - The United Nations has expressed concern about the whereabouts of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi after the ruling military took the democracy campaigner into custody. Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders, who had been touring northern Myanmar, were detained on Friday after clashes between supporters and opponents of her National League for Democracy (NLD) killed four people. The junta, which described the detentions as "protective custody", sealed off the party headquarters in the capital, Yangon, and a party official said on Sunday that its offices had been closed elsewhere in the country, formerly known as Burma. "We are keen to learn her whereabouts. We don't know whether they are under house arrest or not," an aide to U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail told Reuters in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Razali is due to travel to Myanmar on Friday. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement on Saturday he was "following, and with concern, the situation in Myanmar". Foreign diplomats contacted by Reuters on Sunday said they feared the detentions could deal a death blow to stalled talks between the ruling generals and the opposition on Myanmar's political future. Sources close to the government told Reuters that the pro-democracy icon would be returned to the capital on Sunday. Myanmar has been ruled by the military in various guises for the last four decades. Suu Kyi's party won 1990 elections by a landslide but she was denied power by the military and spent much of the last decade under house arrest. After intense international pressure, the junta released her from 19 months under house arrest in May 2002. Officials of Suu Kyi's party, which has been pushing for a transition to democracy in the Southeast Asian nation, said contact with her and senior aides had been cut off since Friday. One NLD official, who declined to be identified, said authorities had shut down party offices in the country's second-biggest city, Mandalay, 700 km (430 miles) north of Yangon, as well as in the southern town of Mawlamyaing and the western town of Pathein. "As far as we have heard, our offices...have been closed and we think some offices in other home states have been closed, but we are not in a position to confirm this yet," said the official. Myanmar officials did not say what sparked the violence in Yaway Oo, about 560 km (400 miles) north of the capital, and denied media reports that Suu Kyi's vehicle had been fired on by an unidentified gunman on Friday night. The talks have been stalled in the confidence-building phase. They began in late 2000 after Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. The government has never responded to Suu Kyi's calls for substantive dialogue on political change. More than 1,000 of her party members are in Myanmar jails, where many of them have languished for years. -------------------------------------------------------------- 7 more NLD leaders in Yangon placed under house
arrest -------------------------------------------------------------- Channel NewsAsia -------------------------------------------------------------- The Times of India Universities shut after Suu Kyi detention -------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-06-01 Concerted Action Urgently Needed To Counter The Crackdown By The Burmese Junta. The Members of Parliament Union of Burma (MPU-Burma) condemns the arrest and holding Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in an unknown location. They categorically reminded that Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) have never advocated violence and have been consistent in their struggle for change through dialogue. They advocated earnestly and persistently to release forthwith Aung San Suu Kyi and all NLD leaders and to remove all restrictions on NLD offices. MPU President and MP-elect Teddy Buri said, "The SPDC's excuse of detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD senior officials for their own safety is absolutely nonsense and unacceptable. We are gravely concerned about their security and fate. The SPDC must bear all responsibilities for the recent deaths and injury caused to the people and for the safety of Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD leaders." The full text of the press statement issued by MPU-Burma is given below: The Members of Parliament Union (MPU) strongly condemns the crackdown on the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leaders by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The MPU urges the SPDC to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all NLD leaders and to remove all restrictions on NLD offices. The SPDC spokesperson Brigadier General Than Tun announced that Aung San Suu Kyi and 17 NLD senior officials have been placed under "protective custody" following a clash in Upper Burma, in which four persons died and 50 were injured. His announcement is nothing more than a cowardly attempt by the SPDC to crack down the political party of the people. In fact, this violent clash is the result of SPDC using its stooge, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, which incites trouble and spark violence between its henchmen and NLD supporters. It is the beginning of the deliberate and well-planned plot of the SPDC to crush the democracy movement. The generals will use the pretext that they have no alternative but to maintain law and order at all costs. By doing so, they will try to prolong the military rule. The SPDC will be held responsible for any consequence arising from violence, chaos, and failure to hold a substantive dialogue towards national reconciliation. Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have never advocated violence and have been consistent in their struggle for change through dialogue. MPU President and MP-elect Teddy Buri said, "The SPDC's excuse of detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD senior officials for their own safety is absolutely nonsense and unacceptable. We are gravely concerned about their security and fate. The SPDC must bear all responsibilities for the recent deaths and injury caused to the people and for the safety of Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD leaders." "This crackdown clearly indicates that the generals have no political will to bring about the political reform through dialogue. They won't stop the illegal move against the NLD unless the international community takes concerted action. We call on the international community to take immediate and effective action to counter the move against the NLD and help secure the immediate release of all NLD leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the reopening of NLD offices." -------------------------------------------------------------- |