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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- September 20 - 22, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Thai military says drugs are
smuggled to Thai workers abroad
AFP - Suu Kyi attends
funeral of jailed member of Myanmar's democracy party
AFP - Myanmar junta's top three
generals promoted
AP - U.N. chief wanted General
Assembly to focus on AIDS, Africa, and
AP - Myanmar government explains
death of political prisoner
Reuters - Myanmar says no foul play
in NLD prisoner's death
Reuters - Minister says Myanmar
committed to democracy
Xinhuanet - Seminar for Thai, Myanmar
reporters planned to boost relations
Xinhuanet - Myanmar to hold mid-year
gems emporium
AP - OSAKA FORUM: E Asian
Nations Mull Need For Oil Stockpiles
WT - Exiles in Burma
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thai military says drugs are
smuggled to Thai workers abroad
BANGKOK, Sept 22 (AFP) - Villagers in Thailand -- including former Chinese Kuomintang refugees -- are exploiting family connections to send illicit drugs abroad to Thai labourers overseas, mainly in Taiwan, narcotics officials here said Sunday. Several groups, including the Chinese Haws, in Thailand's northern border regions are operating clandestine smuggling operations that see drugs such as methamphetamines and heroin transported to Thais in Taiwan and Singapore. "Methamphetamines are sent to trade to Thai labourers in Taiwan by sellers who are not only Chinese Haws, but from others groups," a source in the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) told AFP. "But Chinese Haws may have greater opportunities because they know people there and they send their children to study there," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Northern Thailand is home to thousands of former Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists who fled China's Yunnan province following the 1949 revolutionary victory of communist leader Mao Zedong. Most other KMT fighters fled to Taiwan half a century ago, but connections between the two communities remain, and many KMT descendants in Thailand head to Taiwan for study and work. Thailand's north is notoriously prone to drug trafficking, particularly for heroin and stimulant pills like methamphetamines smuggled across the border from Myanmar. The source would not be drawn on the amount of drugs being trafficked into Taiwan from northern Thailand. Most of the drugs were being brought into Taiwan by relatives making visits to family members or labourers there, according to a Bangkok Post report which also cited ONCB sources. It said the ONCB arrested Chinese Haws a few years ago as they boarded a flight to Taipei with several kilograms of heroin. The narcotics office had been asked by Taiwan for details on trafficking networks following an influx of pills there, the English-language daily added. Up to 4,000 Thais leave for Taiwan each month to take up work, mostly at construction sites or factories, the paper said. There are more than 130,000 Thai labourers in Taiwan. Singapore is also a key destination for the drugs, and deals to Europe and the Americans were being closely monitored as well, the ONCB source said. Some 70% of all methamphetamines trafficked through Thailand and bound for Europe were sent through the Thai and Laotian communities there, he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suu Kyi attends funeral of
jailed member of Myanmar's democracy party
YANGON, Sept 20 (AFP) - Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has attended the funeral of a jailed member of her party after he died in a Yangon hospital, party sources said Friday. The funeral of Aung May Thu, 60, was held on Tuesday after he died from peritonitis despite an eight-hour operation at Yangon's General Hospital, according to a statement released by the ruling military junta Friday. He had been a prisoner at the Tharawaddy Correctional Facility, and was examined by a physician on September 15 after suffering from digestive problems, the statement said. He was admitted to Tharawaddy General Hospital on the same day, but the following day he was transferred to Yangon General Hospital, where he was immediately operated on, it said. The deceased was the chairman of the Min Hla township branch of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). Min Hla is in Bago division, which lies north of the capital, Yangon. NLD sources said Aung May Thu was jailed in 1989 on criminal charges after he was accused of being an underground communist by the military junta. Aung San Suu Kyi has been active in giving support to the families of NLD prisoners since her own release from house arrest by the junta in May this year. Myanmar is frequently criticised by international rights groups over its poor treatment of prisoners, and a lack of medical assistance provided to prisoners who are sick. Hundreds of NLD members have been jailed by the junta merely for their association with the party. Although some have been freed since the beginning of 2001 in goodwill gestures linked with talks between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, some 1,500 are believed to be still incarcerated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar junta's top three
generals promoted
YANGON, Sept 20 (AFP) - Myanmar's top three junta leaders have been promoted in a move prompting speculation that the junta number one, Senior General Than Shwe, may delegate some responsibilities to his two deputies, analysts said Friday. Number two in the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), General Maung Aye, and number three, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, have been promoted to deputy senior general and general respectively, an official source said. Maung Aye is also deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and there is speculation that Khin Nyunt, who is head of the powerful military intelligence unit, will also be named as a military advisor to Than Shwe. The source said Senior General Than Shwe, the powerful leader of the SPDC and head of the armed forces, has been given the rank of field marshal. "The military promotions are being seen as part of an ongoing process of strengthening the military and further consolidating the hierarchy," one observer said. The promotions do not appear to have changed the overall set up within the junta, with the top troika continuing to handle their present responsibilities as chairman, vice-chairman and first secretary, the observer said. Analysts said Than Shwe may now delegate some of his current roles to his two deputies. "Than Shwe is currently not only the de facto head of state, but also prime minister, SPDC chairman, defence minister and he could very well hand over some of these responsibilities to the other two," one analyst said. Another said the shuffle meant Than Shwe was unlikely to retire any time soon. Other members of the SPDC, including ten former regional commanders, have also been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, the official source said. The promotions came a day after the fourteenth anniversary of the ruling SPDC taking power in Myanmar in the wake of a crackdown on a nationwide pro-democracy uprising. The latest move followed expectations that a major change was about to occur in the SPDC leadership, one Myanmar-watcher said, adding that the actual changes were a let-down. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. chief wanted General
Assembly to focus on AIDS, Africa, and
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ The U.N. chief called on the General Assembly to focus on the AIDS epidemic, girls' education, terrorism and four major conflicts. He even scheduled a day devoted to Africa's most pressing problems. But Iraq stole the spotlight at the annual meeting of world leaders. The General Assembly debate, which opened Sept. 12 and ends Friday, gave leaders from all but three of the 190 U.N. member states and the Palestinian observer mission a forum to speak about their most pressing issues and pet peeves. But Iraq took center stage, starting with U.S. President George W. Bush's opening day speech spelling out his country's case against Iraq and followed four days later by Baghdad's announcement that it would allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return unconditionally after a four-year absence. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had opened the General Assembly debate on Sept. 12 _ a day after many delegates attended Sept. 11 memorials in New York _ with a plea to world leaders to take urgent action on four trouble-spots: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq, Afghanistan and India-Pakistan. In his speech, Bush told the U.N. Security Council it needed to get tough with Iraq, which has failed to comply with a decade of council resolutions demanding it admit weapons inspectors and disarm. If the council doesn't act, the United States could, Bush made clear. Sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that its weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed. Inspectors left in 1998 ahead of U.S. and British air strikes to punish Iraq for noncompliance. They have not been permitted to return. But as pressure built in the wake of Bush's speech, Iraq surprised the world Monday and accepted the unconditional return of inspectors _ a development that quickly divided Security Council members and set off days of diplomatic wrangling that dominated the assembly. Some leaders expressed dismay that Iraq had pushed other issues to the sidelines. Even a news conference with key actors seeking solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict _ including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell _ turned into a question-and-answer session on Iraq. Meanwhile, speaker after speaker tried to remind the General Assembly of urgent issues elsewhere in the world. President Hamid Karzai, the first Afghan head of state to address the General Assembly in more than a decade, called on donor nations to make good on financial pledges and asked for an expansion of the international force in his country. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used their speeches to trade accusations and blame for violence in Kashmir and instability in a region loaded with nuclear weapons. Amid more violence in the Middle East, Israel and the Arabs used the forum to accuse one another of terrorism but held out the chance for peace in their 54-year-old conflict. Saudi Arabia _ the birthplace of 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers _ reaffirmed its commitment to the global campaign against terrorism but warned that the world must address political and social conditions that turn ``naive young men'' into terrorists. Cuba accused the United States of ``lying with impudence,'' and challenged the Bush administration to produce a single piece of evidence that it has deliberately subverted the U.S.-led war on terrorism. Bolivia's vice president urged rich nations like the United States to further open their markets to exports from poor Latin American countries, warning of economic instability and growing tensions in the region. Stressing that Yugoslavia is now a democracy, President Vojislav Kostunica said the continuing ``mistrust'' of his country is ``unbelievable.'' North Korea urged the United States to end its hostile stance and stop calling it a part of the ``axis of evil.'' The military junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1962 promised to reintroduce multiparty democracy to the Southeast Asian country. Small island nations urged immediate action to stop global warming, blaming it for a rise in water levels that threaten their existence. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki called on U.N agencies to help the newly formed African Union modernize Africa's economy, combat disease, and ``end Africa's humiliation as an object of charity.'' But none of these important issues got the attention the speakers wanted. Some African officials and development specialists took in stride the sudden attention to Iraq, saying they were not surprised that it grabbed headlines and distracted delegates. But some of their colleagues railed against the marginalization of issues that are matters of survival to millions of poor people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar government explains
death of political prisoner
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ In an apparent effort at fending off criticism, Myanmar's military government on Friday issued a statement explaining the circumstances of the death of a political prisoner. It said Aung May Thu, 60, had suffered from peritonitis _ a perforated gastric ulcer _ and died Tuesday after an unsuccessful eight-hour operation to treat the ailment. Aung May Thu was arrested in 1989 on charges of being linked to the banned Communist Party of Burma and sentenced to 20 year in prison. Although the sentence was commuted to 10 years, he was kept in prison under a law allowing indefinite detention of persons considered a threat to the state. News of his death had already been reported by opposition sources, and publicized by opposition media outside of Myanmar, also known as Burma. The statement from the government spokesman's office, faxed to The Associated Press in Thailand, said Aung May Thu was transferred on Sunday from Tharawaddy Prison to a local hospital in Bago, 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of the capital, suffering from flatulence and constipation. The next day he was sent to Yangon general hospital where a team of specialists operated on him overnight, but he died several hours later. The statement said the government was helping his family with ``necessary humanitarian assistance.'' Myanmar's military government is criticized in the West for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government. The government is believed to hold about 1,500 political prisoners, and their release is a major demand of the opposition National League for Democracy party led by 1991 Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Several dozen prisoners are believed to have died in detention, from old age and medical neglect. The Irrawaddy online magazine, published in Thailand, reported that Suu Kyi attended Aung May Thu's funeral on Wednesday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar says no foul play in
NLD prisoner's death
YANGON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar sought to head off potential criticism over the death of a prisoner from the pro-democracy opposition on Wednesday, insisting the detainee had died because of poor health. ``While serving his sentence...Aung May Thu recently suffered severe flatulence with hard constipation on 15th September,'' a government spokesman said in a statement faxed to Reuters. Aung May Thu, 60, a senior member of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, had been in jail since 1989. He was recently transferred to a hospital for an eight-hour operation and died on September 17 of peritonitis, the statement said. Under intense lobbying from the international community, Myanmar's generals released Suu Kyi from 19 months' house arrest in May. But around 250 members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) still languish in Myanmar's jails. The NLD won elections in the impoverished Southeast Asian country in 1990, but have been denied power by the military. Human rights groups say the military regularly tortures political prisoners and keeps them in poor conditions. But the United Nations human rights envoy to Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who is due to visit the country on October 13, has said prison conditions have improved since the government started to allow Red Cross visits over the past two years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minister says Myanmar committed to
democracy
By Carol Giacomo UNITED NATIONS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta, which 12 years ago overruled popular elections to stay in power, assured the United Nations on Thursday it was committed to building a multi-party democratic political system. In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that invoked Buddha, Jesus Christ and the prophet Mohammed, Foreign Minister Win Aung advocated doing away with hatred and letting ``love and compassion guide us.'' But he said nothing about the European Union's call last week for Myanmar to free all prisoners of conscience and safeguard human rights. ``It is the goal of our government to bring to reality the aspirations of the people of Myanmar for a multi-party democratic political system,'' he said. Win Aung said his government was laying firm foundations toward this end so that the new democratic system will be able to withstand any challenges that might emerge. The junta in recent months has been trying to improve its image and diplomats say the reason is the dismal state of Mynamar's economy. The generals want to get crippling sanctions lifted. Last May, the military government released Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, from 19 months of house arrest, raising expectations of political progress. On a trip to the capital Yangon last week, EU officials urged the junta to free all prisoners of conscience and safeguard human rights, saying European countries would respond positively. Win Aung said the junta was actively promoting an end to conflict and bloodshed in his country and fighting poverty and narcotics production. He said Myanmar was working on its own and with the international community to counter terrorism, which he called a ``common threat to mankind.'' Win Aung said cooperation with the United Nations is the cornerstone of Myanmar's foreign policy. Suu Kyi's political party, the National Democratic League, won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but the military refused to hand over power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seminar for Thai, Myanmar reporters
planned to boost relations
Xinhuanet
2002-09-20 12:43:44 BANGKOK, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The Thai military has planned to hold a seminar for Thai and Myanmar reporters, aiming to strengthen relations and seek the removal of 14 Thai reporters from Rangoon's blacklist, the Bangkok Post reported Friday. Sanan Kachornklam, secretary to the defense minister's staff, was quoted as saying that he and members of the Thai-Myanmar Cultural and Economic Cooperation Association would discuss the issue with Air Marshal Kyaw Than, Myanmar's chairman of the association. Sanan, who was in Yangon for a meeting of the association on Wednesday, said the seminar aimed at enhancing relations between Thai and Myanmar reporters, as well as promoting good understanding between reporters and the Myanmar government. Thailand would offer to play the host because Yangon may revise its blacklist of 14 Thai reporters if the relations between them improve, he said, adding that the fact the Thai-Myanmar cooperation association was meeting again showed that Yangon was opening more channels of contact with Thailand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar to hold mid-year gems
emporium
YANGON, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar will hold its 11th Mid- Year Gems Emporium from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 this year to put on sale its domestically-produced quality gems, jade, pearl and jewelry through competitive bidding and at fixed price. This was announced by the state-run Myanma Gems Enterprise on Friday. Mid-year gems emporiums were introduced in addition to the annual ones since 1992 to boost the country's foreign exchange earning, while the 39 annual events have been held since 1964. Myanmar, a well-known producer of jade, ruby and sapphire in the world, has earned a total of nearly 360 million US dollars of foreign exchange from those gems emporiums of the two kinds, according to official statistics. To develop its gems mining industry, Myanmar enacted the New Gemstone Law in September 1995, allowing national entrepreneurs to mine, produce, transport and sell finished gemstone and manufactured jewelry at home and abroad. Since April 2000, the government has started mining of gems and jade in joint venture with 10 private companies on a profit sharing basis. Official statistics showed that Myanmar's government sector produced 31.464 tons of jade, 2.313 million carats of sapphire, 2. 008 million carats of ruby and 5.741 kilograms of pearl in fiscal 2001-02 which ended in March. There are three famous gem lands in Myanmar where gems are produced -- Mogok in Mandalay division, Mongshu in Shan state and Phakant in Kachin state. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday September 22, 3:59 PM
OSAKA FORUM: E Asian Nations Mull Need For Oil Stockpiles OSAKA (AP)--East Asian nations said Sunday they will explore the idea of building up oil stockpiles to cushion against supply disruptions from the volatile Middle East. Japan and South Korea are the only oil importers in the region that now hold onto surplus supplies for use in an emergency, while China and Thailand have plans for their own stockpiles modeled on those kept by rich consuming nations such as the United States, officials here said. But with oil prices bumping up against $30 a barrel and fears of a U.S. attack on Iraq stirring worries about supply problems, the rest of the nations in ASEAN think they, too, should build up stocks to achieve greater energy security. Ministers from the 10 ASEAN nations, Japan, South Korea and China held their first-ever talks on regional oil security on the sidelines of a global conference of the major producing and consuming nations. The Philippines proposed that a former U.S. military base at Subic Bay, which has large fuel storage facilities, could be used for stockpiling oil. Thailand said its geographic position between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea would be good for building a strategically placed pipeline. But the discussions were preliminary and will be followed up by more talks next year, said Toshihazu Masuyama, director of energy policy for Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, who briefed reporters on the talks. "They were not discussing concrete details about how and when and what kind of crude oil," Masuyama said. "At least they have started talking." ASEAN nations have not gotten to the point of deciding whether they would build one or more regional stockpiles or if each nation should have its own, he said. Japan is urging its developing neighbors to build the stockpiles. The East Asians grumbled that they typically end up paying a premium of $1 to $1.50 a barrel for oil from the Middle East, and they want to develop more thorough information on the crude market so they can negotiate better deals. They also discussed creation of an emergency network to quickly share information in the event of a fuel crisis, as well as making up plans for a coordinated response. Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 21, 2002
Exiles in Burma By Hans Nichols THE WASHINGTON TIMES KAWTHOOLAY, Burma ? Aung San Suu Kyi and Gen. Bo Mya have spent their entire lives fighting for self-determination in Burma, yet they have never met and probably never will. When asked if he has ever spoken to the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Gen. Bo Mya shook his head. "She doesn't dare contact our armed groups," he told The Washington Times. As the military head of the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the largest and last of the armed ethnic groups in Burma, Gen. Bo Mya has been at odds with various regimes in Rangoon since the birth of modern Burma in 1948. That opposition only hardened when the current military junta took control in 1988, and renamed the country Myanmar the following year. Gen. Bo Mya says in his autobiography that he never trusted Mrs. Suu Kyi's father, a prominent independence leader who was assassinated in 1947. More recently, Gen. Bo Mya and Mrs. Suu Kyi have been on different wavelengths. Shortly after she was released in May from her latest house arrest ? this one lasting 20 months ? the Burmese junta persuaded Thai authorities to exile Gen. Bo Mya from his headquarters in Thailand, his first official exile in a half-century of insurgency. As Gen. Bo Mya sneaked back to a KNU stronghold in Burma, Mrs. Suu Kyi was relatively free and on the road to Mandalay. Mrs. Suu Kyi, founder and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), is no stranger to seclusion, having spent much of the last decade under house arrest. In 1990, the NLD won more than 80 percent of the national vote, but was prevented from forming a parliament. Soon after, she was put under house arrest. Educated at Oxford, she follows in the nonviolent tradition of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King. For many Burmese, she is their only hope for democracy. By contrast, Gen. Bo Mya's classroom was the jungle, where as a teenager, he and most of the ethnic Karens remained loyal to Britain after Burma welcomed the Japanese occupation. Since then, the Karens, an ethnic group of 7 million in eastern Burma, have been fighting for independence in what may be the world's longest-running conflict. Indeed the shooting only stops when the rain starts to fall, as it does for three months starting in late June. The junta in Rangoon wants "to Burmanize" its ethnic minorities, said Gen. Bo Mya. "They want to take away our language and our culture and make us just like them," he said. "We have no choice but to fight for our survival." Meanwhile, Rangoon has accused Thailand of feeding, arming and assisting the rebels from the KNU and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S). As a result of these tensions, the border between Thailand and Burma has been closed since early June. By any definition, the KNU is a ragtag guerrilla army ? barefoot or in sandals, short on supplies and long on morale. Gen. Bo Mya claims he has 10,000 troops, but that number hasn't been verified. Independent sources put the number at anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000. Even so, Gen. Bo Mya, now well into his 70s, predicted that victory was nearly at hand as he sat in his receiving room behind a poster of "Rambo" and a yellowed newspaper clipping from one of Thailand's English-language dailies bearing the headline: "Against all odds the Karen continue their struggle." Even in the monsoons of late July and early August, the KNU held training exercises at 7th Brigade headquarters ? a group of huts on stilts amid muddy pathways just across the Moei River from Thailand. Dressed incongruously in military fatigues and the traditional Karen skirt, the longyi, the rebels fired M-16s, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. But the KNU's homemade firing devices don't always function on demand and on this humid day it took several tries before the grenade, in fact, became rocket-propelled. Along with other ethnic groups rimming Burma's border, the Karens, a third of whom are Christians, have endured decades of persecution. A recent Amnesty International report detailed the deliberate human rights abuses committed by the junta's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) against Burma's ethnic minorities, which make up approximately 30 percent of the country's 42 million inhabitants. The report concluded: "The government needs to show it is serious about human rights improvements throughout the country by taking urgent steps to protect civilians from forced labor, extortion and land confiscation at the hands of its armed forces." Official spokesmen in Rangoon quickly dismissed the Amnesty International report, suggesting that it "emanated from armed ethnic terrorist groups." The fighting between the 400,000-man SPDC and Burma's ethnic insurgencies takes it toll on the junta as well. In July encounters between the SSA-S and the SPDC, the junta lost about 500 men, the BBC reported from Rangoon. In many ways, Burma's ethnic tribes are similar to those of northern Afghanistan. They control a fraction of the country's border regions, are outnumbered and outgunned and without outside intervention, they face imminent defeat. Many tribes have known only famine, war and drugs for generations. And just as Tajik and Uzbek warlords distrust each other as well as they do Pashtuns from the south, Burma's ethnic leaders are not inclined to trust each other, nor a moderate from Rangoon like Mrs. Suu Kyi. Since seizing power in 1988, the junta has exploited these differences. Almost immediately it signed a cease-fire with the Wa, but not the Shan. The junta has also greased the conflict between the Shan and the Wa by relocating Wa communities into Shan territories. In 1995, when a split in the Karen leadership gave birth to Christian and Buddhist factions, the junta was quick to form an alliance with the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. Now, these two groups of Karen are at war with each other, just as they were once united against the SPDC. But some ethnic political leaders are hopeful that these disparate groups, with their distinct languages and traditions, will unite against Rangoon instead of each other. Among the many exile groups based in Thailand is an offshoot of Mrs. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy ? the NLD-LA (for "Liberated Area"). The leader is an ethnic Shan and its governing council has representation from the Karen, Kareni and Mon people. But they concede that their hopes lie more with Mrs. Suu Kyi's nonviolent approach than with the border insurgencies. That may be a matter of common-sense realization. Having signed cease-fires with 24 ethnic armies, the junta can concentrate on the holdouts ? most notably, the Karen and the Shan. Meanwhile, the junta is making a play for international support with an eye toward the lifting of sanctions in return for its ending restrictions on political prisoners. Still, an estimated 2,000 political dissidents remain restricted. Early last month, U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail visited Rangoon to discuss the release of political prisoners and to broach other human-rights issues. He met with Mrs. Suu Kyi as well as with SPDC officials. August and September mark the 14-year anniversary of the junta's slaughter of pro-democracy protesters in Rangoon. According to independent reports, about 3,000 demonstrators were killed when troops shot into the crowds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |