--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday June 4, 4:38 PM
U.N. seeks access to
Myanmar's Suu Kyi
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) -
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is spending spent a fifth day in
custody as the United Nations seeks access to her ahead of the arrival of a top
envoy of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The Nobel peace laureate and
pro-democracy icon has been held at undisclosed locations since her detention on
Friday, despite mounting calls for her release from the international community,
including U.S. President George W. Bush.
An Asian diplomat close to U.N.
special envoy Razali Ismail -- due to arrive in Myanmar on Friday for a five-day
visit -- told Reuters the veteran Malaysian diplomat was seeking access to Suu
Kyi.
"Razali is not sure if he will be allowed to see her or not," said
the diplomat. "He will make his final decision on his visit at the very last
moment as he feels the situation is not clear."
U.N. Secretary-General
Annan, following his arrival at U.N. headquarters from the G-8 summit in Evian
on Tuesday, said it was vital Razali visit Myanmar and meet Suu Kyi.
The
junta launched a fresh crackdown on dissent following clashes in the north of
the country between Suu Kyi's supporters and pro-government groups late on
Friday, in which the junta says four people were killed and 50 hurt.
The
government responded by taking Suu Kyi and her top aides into "protective
custody" and closing party offices around the country. It also closed
universities, seen as traditional hotbeds of unrest.
The crackdown has
effectively put an end to stalled talks on the country's political future
between the junta and opposition, who are pushing for a transition to democracy,
brokered by Razali in 2000.
Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Muang
Win said on Tuesday Razali was welcome to go ahead with his visit, planned some
weeks ago, but hinted he may not be allowed to meet Suu Kyi.
RUMOURS SWIRL
Khin Muang Win denied reports
from Myanmar dissidents in exile that Suu Kyi had received a head injury during
the clashes on Friday and that many more of her supporters had been killed.
Exiled dissidents say they believe Suu Kyi and her convoy were stopped
on a road and set upon by several truck loads of government supporters wielding
clubs. The government has not given details of the disturbance.
Foreign
diplomats in Yangon told Reuters they had been denied any contact with Suu Kyi
and other top members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party who are
being held under house arrest.
"Suu may be in good health, or she may
have been hurt, we just don't know," said one diplomat on condition of
anonymity.
He said there were two rumours doing the diplomatic circuit.
"One is she is getting treatment at the Mingaladon Military Hospital on
the outskirts of town. The other is that she is in a special military guesthouse
on Inya Road", he said, referring to an elite residential area in the capital
near her own home.
Suu Kyi's NLD won a 1990 election by a landslide, but
has never been allowed to govern.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the last 14
years under house arrest. She ended her last stint in detention only a year ago
and has since angered the military by drawing large crowds during a series of
visits to supporters around the country.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar dissident groups fear Suu Kyi harmed in clash
Wed
Jun 4, 9:00 PM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Exiled Myanmar supporters of democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi fear she has been badly injured and refused access to
her physicians, as her whereabouts and physical condition remain unknown.
Myanmar's military rulers insist the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has
not been seen since Friday, is safe and well. But they refuse to disclose where
in the capital, Yangon, they are holding her.
Suu Kyi and 19 members of
her National League for Democracy were taken into ``protective custody'' after
her supporters and pro-government protesters clashed in northern Myanmar. The
government says four people were killed. Activists say dozens may have died.
Since the clash, the government has launched a crackdown of the NLD,
shutting party offices across the country and placing her top lieutenants under
house arrest.
Western diplomats have been denied access to NLD leaders,
and with little independent information emerging out of Myanmar, rumors about
Suu Kyi's condition and that of other senior NLD leaders were running rife
Wednesday.
``We've heard it from many sources, that she and (NLD vice
chairman) Tin Oo are severely injured,'' said Soe Aung of the National Council
of the Union of Burma, a coalition of exiled political and ethnic minority
groups opposed to the junta.
Soe Aung, whose group is based on the
border with Thailand, said he spoke to eyewitnesses of Friday's confrontation.
``She's not even allowed to meet with her own doctor ... not allowed to
meet with anyone at all,'' he said, referring to the reports. ``If she is fine,
why can't someone be allowed to meet with her?''
Tight controls on the
media in Myanmar make it difficult to verify such reports.
The
government has blamed ``inflammatory'' speeches by Suu Kyi, critical of the
government, and ``unruly'' youth members of her party for triggering the
violence last week. They say military personnel were not involved.
But
foreign human rights advocates suspect the clash may have been provoked by the
government to justify a crackdown to counter her growing popularity.
``The government needs to stop persecuting its critics and start serious
talks about making the transition to a rights-respecting member of the
international community,'' said Brad Adams, Asia Division director for the New
York-based Human Rights Watch.
Zin Linn, director of the National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a self-styled government-in-exile
that is close to Suu Kyi's party, said he feared Suu Kyi suffered a broken hand
while trying to shield herself from attackers.
He quoted witnesses as
saying they saw military trucks at the scene of the melee, and that as many as
100 people may have been killed, including Suu Kyi's bodyguards.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's generals revert to style they know best:
tough
Wed
Jun 4, 2:20 AM ET
By GRANT PECK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BANGKOK, Thailand, June 3
(AP) - Myanmar's ruling
generals hired a high-priced Washington public relations firm a few years ago,
but when trouble brews, they turn to the style of crisis management they know
best: rounding up the usual suspects.
Their crackdown this past weekend
on the country's pro-democracy movement, including the detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy,
has once again earned them the disapproval of much of the world.
But it
also caused some surprise, because in recent years the junta has been taking
steps to gain some respect from the international community, which has shunned
it for its poor human rights record and refusal to allow democracy.
These steps included opening a dialogue with Suu Kyi, allowing U.N.
investigators to probe human rights and labor conditions, holding
Australian-sponsored human rights classes for civil servants and hosting
researchers from Amnesty International for the first time ever.
With an
economy in tatters ? its currency's official exchange rate is about 150 times
what it actually trades for on the black market ? Myanmar needs all the friends
it can get.
Even countries sympathetic to the junta were dumbfounded by
the recent turn of events
''Things looked good for a while,'' Malaysian
Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz told reporters Tuesday in Thailand. ''I really don't
know what happened there, but now maybe it is moving some steps backward.''
Malaysia has been a leading proponent of the concept of ''constructive
engagement,'' using the lure of rewards, rather then the threat of punishment,
to encourage political reform in Myanmar.
World leaders, including
President Bush, have urged Myanmar to release Suu Kyi. The generals, however,
have only said that the Nobel Peace Prize winner is unhurt, not when she will be
released.
The junta values stability above all else. There is some
historical basis for this position ? the country has been riven by political and
ethnic conflict since independence in 1948.
But the current regime came
to power after violently suppressing spontaneous, pro-democracy demonstrations
in 1988. Hundreds of unarmed civilians were killed when soldiers turned their
guns on their own countrymen.
Since then, a pattern has emerged. Every
initiative holding out the hope of political reform peters out or is quashed, as
often as not with arrests of members of Suu Kyi's party.
Suu Kyi's
release in 1995 from her original six years of house arrest was the best example
of a false dawn for Myanmar's people, but there are other cases.
The
establishment of a constitutional convention in 1993, Myanmar's admission to the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1997, the U.N.-brokered initiation of
a closed-door dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi in 2000, and just over a
year ago, Suu Kyi's release from another 19 months of detention ? all were
opportunities for change squandered.
Whether the current crackdown
reflects strength or weakness on the part of the junta is a matter for debate.
Some observers believe Suu Kyi has the military running scared.
Her political meetings of the past few months have attracted large
crowds, showing how popular she is and that her party organization is at least
as adept as the military in uniting the country.
''Because the economy
in Myanmar is pretty bad, if they allow Suu Kyi to continue, it could lead to an
uprising, so the junta decided to stop her,'' said Somchai Homla-or, an
executive of the Bangkok-based human rights group Forum-Asia.
One
Western diplomat in Yangon, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the
action have been meant to scuttle the political reconciliation efforts of U.N.
special envoy Razali Ismail, due to visit Myanmar on Friday.
Josef
Silverstein, a longtime scholar of Myanmar based in New Jersey, said the
intensity of the crackdown, along with publicity trying to discredit Suu Kyi's
party, shows ''the government has made a decision that this is the time to
squelch Suu Kyi and the NLD.''
''Than Shwe has seemingly made up his
mind that this is the time to get rid of them,'' said Silverstein, referring to
the senior general heading the junta.
Other analysts say the action
against Suu Kyi may reflect divisions within the military.
Chaiyachoke
Chulasiriwong, a politics professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said
he believes Maung Aye, the second-ranking member of the junta, is responsible
for the crackdown.
Maung Aye's hardline tendencies, he said, are
countered by the relative liberalism of a faction associated with Gen. Khin
Nyunt, the junta's third ranking leader. That group is inclined to ''allow Suu
Kyi some room to breathe,'' he said.
He warned, though, that whatever
disunity there may be within the junta, no faction will ever hand over power to
Suu Kyi.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thai politicians urge Myanmar to respect Suu Kyi, allow
meeting
Wed
Jun 4, 3:14 PM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thai politicians called on Myanmar's junta
to treat detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ``with honor,'' as about
20 exiled dissidents protested Wednesday outside the Myanmar Embassy to demand
her immediate release.
Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh urged
Myanmar authorities to respect the rights of the Nobel Peace laureate, who was
detained after a deadly clash in northern Myanmar between her supporters and
pro-government protesters on Friday.
``Even though the arrest and
detention is the internal affair of Myanmar, the human rights and dignity of
Aung San Suu Kyi must be upheld,'' Chavalit, a former prime minister with strong
links to Myanmar's ruling generals, told reporters. ``They should treat her with
honor.''
Despite often fragile bilateral relations, the current Thai
administration has sought to improve ties with neighboring Myanmar's ruling
generals and rarely comments on domestic issues in the military state.
The Myanmar government said four people were killed in Friday's clash
and that Suu Kyi was unhurt, but exiled opposition groups claimed that she
suffered head injuries and that as many as 70 people may have died when soldiers
opened fire.
Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since Friday, amid
mounting international concern about her fate. Myanmar has declined to disclose
where she is being held.
Kobsak Chutikul, a member of Parliament and
deputy leader of a party in Thailand's coalition government, urged the junta to
allow U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail to meet with Suu Kyi.
Razali is
due to arrive in Myanmar on Friday to try to rekindle national reconciliation
talks between Suu Kyi and the military that he helped launch in October 2000.
Myanmar's government refuses to say if Razali will be allowed to meet
her.
``We must hear her voice,'' Kobsak said. ``The world community
should know her whereabouts. The Myanmar military junta should reassure the
outside world that the visiting U.N. special envoy will be allowed to meet her.
Otherwise, the ongoing political tension will worsen.''
The current
junta has held power since 1988, and refuses to hand over power to Suu Kyi's
party, which won the 1990 elections.
Kobsak said the political tensions
could worsen the economic situation in Myanmar and result in uprisings and
chaos.
``Myanmar is in a severe economic crisis,'' he said. ``It will
worsen due to the current political tension, which will lead to more economic
sanctions from the international community,'' Kobsak said.
The Thai
Senate's foreign affairs committee is expected to meet later Wednesday to
discuss the situation in Myanmar and how Thailand might help decrease the
tension, he said.
Some 20 Myanmar dissidents gathered outside the
Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok early Wednesday to call for Suu Kyi's immediate
release. They shouted, ``Free Aung San Suu Kyi,'' during the demonstration,
which lasted about 20 minutes.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Envoy says U.N. will decide if his trip to Myanmar goes
forward,
Wed
Jun 4, 6:33 PM ET
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - The United Nations special envoy to
Myanmar said Wednesday he is awaiting word from U.N. headquarters on whether to
visit the country, embroiled in a new crisis between the ruling military and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Razali Ismail's long-scheduled visit
beginning Friday was thrown in doubt after the government detained Suu Kyi last
weekend and declined on Tuesday to say whether Razali would be allowed to visit
her.
Razali said a high-level U.N. meeting would be held in New York on
Thursday to discuss the crackdown on Suu Kyi and her supporters.
``I
feel I should go, but I have to take into account how the U.N. members feel,''
Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, told The Associated Press. ``We will see
what the overall position is.''
Razali said that his mission would not
succeed if he could not meet with Suu Kyi.
Myanmar says she is being
held in ``protective custody'' in Yangon, the capital, but her precise location
is unknown.
``I can only do my job if I get to see all parties
concerned,'' Razali said. ``It would be difficult to fulfill my mandate if I
don't see Suu Kyi.''
Razali declined to comment on whether he would call
off the trip if he was not assured of meeting Suu Kyi, saying he would await the
U.N.'s decision.
Razali said Suu Kyi's detention should not be a reason
to deny him seeing her.
``I have met her before when she was under house
arrest,'' he said. ``There were no problems.''
The government detained
Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy leaders following a bloody clash between her
followers and pro-junta demonstrators Friday. Exiled opposition groups say Suu
Kyi was injured. The government denies it.
The government has blamed Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy for provoking the violence. Opposition
figures have theorized the government staged the clash to provoke a crackdown
because Suu Kyi was gaining too much support.
Deputy Foreign Minister
Khin Maung Win told diplomats Tuesday in Yangon that Razali was ``free to
come,'' but couldn't say whether he would be allowed to meet Suu Kyi, diplomats
said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who picked Razali in 2000 to
try to break the long deadlock between Suu Kyi and the generals, has demanded
her release.
Razali achieved a breakthrough soon after his appointment,
brokering talks that led to the release of Suu Kyi from 19 months of home
detention and the freeing of hundreds of political prisoners.
The
military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962. The current junta
came to power in 1988. The government held elections in 1990 _ at a time when
Suu Kyi was under what became six years of house arrest _ but refused to hand
over power when her party won. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
--------------------------------------------------------------
VOA News
Influential US Senator John McCain Blasts
Burma's Military Government
Deborah
Tate
Capitol Hill
04 Jun 2003, 00:30 UTC
A
key U.S. lawmaker is calling for tighter U.S. sanctions against Burma after that
country's military government detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Senator John McCain
blasted the Burmese government's detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other
opposition leaders following clashes Friday between her supporters and
pro-government demonstrators in northern Burma.
"The junta's latest
actions are a desperate attempt by a decaying regime to stall freedom's
inevitable progress in Burma and across Asia," he said. "They will fail, as
surely as Aung San Suu Kyi's campaign for a free Burma will one day succeed."
Senator McCain, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the Senate
Commerce Committee, took to the Senate floor to call on the United States to
take steps aimed at further isolating the military government in Rangoon.
He called on Congress to consider legislation banning Burmese imports to
the United States, and urged European parliaments to do likewise, noting that
more than 50 percent of Burmese exports go to U.S. and European markets.
Senator McCain urged the Bush administration to freeze U.S. assets of
Burmese leaders. He said the United States also should expand the visa ban
against Burmese officials to include all members of the pro-government Union
Solidarity Development Association, which human rights advocates say organized
last week's attack against Aung San Suu Kyi's delegation.
In addition,
Senator McCain called on U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail to drop his plans to
visit Burma later this week unless he gets assurances from the Burmese
government that he will be able to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.
"American
and international policy towards Burma should reflect our conviction that
oppression and impunity must come to an end, and that the regime must move
toward a negotiated settlement with Aung San Suu Kyi that grants her a leading
and irreversible political role culminating in free and fair national
elections," he said. If it does not, the regime will not be able to manage the
transition when it does come, for it will come, without its consent."
Senator McCain denounced governments, particularly China, that continue
to engage with the Burmese government, and he criticized Japan for its
announcement earlier Tuesday that it would not change its policy toward Rangoon
because of Burma's crackdown.
"Shame on the Japanese! Music to the ear
of the junta, perhaps, but I believe friends of the Burmese people must take a
radically different principled approach to a problem that kind words will only
exacerbate," blasted Senator McCain.
For its part, the Burmese
government says members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
initiated the clash by attacking pro-government groups.
Mr.
McCain says change will never come to Burma while the military government
remains in power.
"The junta cannot oversee the reform and opening of
Burma for it remains the biggest obstacle to the freedom and prosperity of the
Burmese people," he stressed. "Burma cannot change as long as the junta rules,
without restraint or remorse.
Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house
arrest last year after 19 months of captivity. She was also detained by the
government for six years ending in 1995.
Her
party won the country's last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the generals
refused to hand over power.
--------------------------------------------------------------
VOA News
Asian Leaders Reconsider Burma Policy
Following Arrest of Pro-Democracy Leader
Scott
Bobb, Bangkok
04 Jun 2003, 10:21
UTC
International concern is mounting over Burmese pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and dozens of senior opposition party leaders who were
detained five days ago in a government crackdown. Some Asian leaders are calling
for governments to review their policy of engaging Burma in order to encourage
political reform.
The Chairman of Thailand's Senate Foreign Affairs
Committee Kraisak Choonavan says the crackdown in Burma shows that Asia's
policies toward the Burmese military government have not worked. Senator Kraisak
says Asian governments should review their relations with Burma and ASEAN, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, should reconsider its decision to admit
Burma six years ago.
"How can ASEAN even exist, in fact, when the year
2006 comes around and it's Burma's turn to become chairman of ASEAN?" he asked.
Concern is growing about the condition of pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and senior leaders of her opposition National League for Democracy
party. They were detained Friday after a clash in northern Burma.
The
military government says four people were killed and more than 50 wounded.
However, human rights groups and exiled dissidents quote eyewitnesses as saying
government sympathizers instigated the clash and the casualty figures are much
higher.
A senior Burmese official has told diplomats in Rangoon that
Aung San Suu Kyi was not harmed, in response to reports that she was wounded in
the incident.
United Nations special envoy, Razali Ismail, is due to
travel to Rangoon Friday to try to revive stalled talks between the government
and the NLD on a possible political transition to democracy. He has indicated he
wants to proceed with the visit but wants assurances he will be allowed to see
Aung San Suu Kyi.
The United Nations has expressed concern over the
crackdown and Western governments have sharply criticized the move.
In
Asia, however, criticism has come mainly from Japan and Thailand. The
secretary-general of ASEAN says his organization will ask Burma about the
situation.
A spokesman for the Forum-Asia human rights group, Sunai Phasuk,
says ASEAN needs to reform its policies.
"Until today ASEAN has taken a
no-action policy on Burma, saying that what's happening in Burma is only
domestic affairs, which is wrong," he noted. " Political turbulence in Burma can
cause turbulence in the region, especially in Thailand, which of course involves
border unrest and the influx of refugees."
Observers note that Asian
governments have fostered friendly relations with Burma in order to promote
trade ties. But they also note that any change in Asian policy toward Burma will
need support from China.
China is keen to open up a trade route from its
southwestern Yunnan Province to the Indian Ocean. It backs the Burmese
government and is involved in major road and river development projects.
ASEAN governments, which are already concerned about the flight of
foreign investors from their countries to China, are reluctant to downgrade
their ties with Burma. They say the military government in Rangoon has shown it
is willing to weather international condemnation in order to control domestic
political activities that it considers to be a threat to stability.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Tribune
Suu Kyi was ambushed
in Myanmar, reports say
By Rafael D.
Frankel, Special to the Tribune
Published June 4,
2003
BANGKOK -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her
convoy were ambushed by the military Friday night, according to reports from
Myanmar that contradict the military government's account of the
clash.
Meanwhile, the fates of 17 of her National League for Democracy
colleagues were unknown Tuesday after the military reversed course and told
diplomats it could not guarantee they were unharmed, according to a spokesman
for the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
Suu Kyi, 57,
the leader of the NLD, suffered a serious head injury and a broken hand in
Friday night's violence, in which dozens of people were killed, according to
reports by Radio Free Asia. Corroborating reports came from the Washington-based
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a pro-democracy group that
says it heard eyewitness accounts of the violence.
The military did not
reveal Suu Kyi's whereabouts Tuesday. The junta also continued to hold
incommunicado the central committee of her party under house arrest.
In
briefing diplomats Tuesday, the military junta that has ruled Myanmar since
crushing a popular uprising in 1988 still said that only four people were killed
in a fight incited by Suu Kyi's group, according to the U.S. Embassy. The junta
assured diplomats that Suu Kyi and her vice chairman, U Tin Oo, were in good
health, an Embassy spokesman said.
However, in a departure from previous
statements, the military said they could no longer make such guarantees about
the other NLD members who had been accompanying Suu Kyi when the violence
occurred, leading to fears among democracy supporters that they were killed or
seriously injured.
During Tuesday's diplomatic briefing, several Western
ambassadors pointed out "inconstancies" in the military's story, and the
reaction among the diplomats was one of "incredulity," the U.S. spokesman
said.
The diplomats were particularly skeptical of the military's
insistence that no police or military officers were present at a 5,000-person
protest against Suu Kyi that the military claims to have taken place and that
Suu Kyi was taken into "protective custody" two hours later, the spokesman
said.
Since her release from house arrest a year ago, Suu Kyi has been
under constant surveillance by military intelligence.
Witnesses' accounts
of the violence indicate that soldiers, pro-government militia members and
convicts from a local prison attacked the 19 NLD members and hundreds of their
supporters Friday.
The soldiers opened fire on Suu Kyi's car, puncturing
its tires, and the militia and convicts beat the Nobel Peace laureate and
members of her group with bamboo stakes, the accounts said. Vice Chairman Tin Oo
was beaten and dragged away by three police officers, the witnesses
said.
In the northern city of Mandalay, the witnesses managed to contact
local members of the NLD, who helped the escapees call the National Coalition
Government in Thailand, according to Zin Linn, the group's eastern regional
director, based in Bangkok.
Confirming the reports has proved difficult
because phone lines to much of northern Myanmar are down.
On Monday, the
military closed all offices of the party across Myanmar and closed all
universities, which were supposed to start a new term that day. On Tuesday, the
military insisted the closings of the NLD offices were only temporary, though
they offered no schedule for reopening them, an Embassy spokesman
said.
World leaders have condemned the crackdown and demanded the release
of Suu Kyi and her league members.
"The military authorities should
release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters immediately and permit her party
headquarters to reopen," President Bush said Monday.
--------------------------------------------------------------
BBC News - Wednesday, 4 June
Suu Kyi
'was hurt during clash'
Burma's opposition leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, was cut on the face and shoulder during a violent clash between her
supporters and pro-government demonstrators last week.
The BBC's Burma
analyst, Larry Jagan, says that the democracy leader received cuts to the face
and shoulder when the window of her car was shattered by a brick before she was
taken into "protective custody" by the junta at the weekend.
Deputy
Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win assured diplomats on Tuesday that Aung San Suu
Kyi had not been injured and was in good health.
Our correspondent says
that she is now being held at a military camp just outside Rangoon. It is
thought that the injuries are not serious.
Diplomats and UN officials
have been repeatedly denied access to her.
The military government said
that four people were killed in the clashes on Friday in the north of the
country, in which Aung San Suu Kyi was injured.
But eyewitnesses
estimated that more than 60 people died in the incident and, according to our
correspondent, diplomats in the capital now fear for the safety of these
sources, as the government tries to cover up the incident.
Our
correspondent says that BBC News Online has been blocked inside Burma, among the
government's measures to stop news of the incident spreading.
The
military authorities have rounded up hundreds of people in the area and many
more are in hiding.
Foreign human rights advocates have said they
suspect the clash was provoked by the authorities to justify a crackdown.
"The government needs to stop persecuting its critics and start serious
talks about making the transition to a rights-respecting member of the
international community," said Brad Adams of the New York-based Human Rights
Watch.
But in closed-door briefings to foreign diplomats on Tuesday,
Khin Maung Win blamed supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi for the violence, Reuters
news agency reported.
He added that the government remained committed to
political reconciliation.
The UN envoy, Razali Ismail, who brokered
talks between the military regime and Aung San Suu Kyi more than two years ago,
is due to arrive in Rangoon in two days time to try to mediate between the two
sides.
Mr Razali is thought to be keen to visit even if the military
continues to stress it cannot guarantee him access to Aung San Suu Kyi.
Diplomats in Rangoon now fear that the future of the talks process could
hinge on the visit.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Washington Post
Burmese Dissident May Have Been
Injured in Clash
By Alan
Sipress
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 4,
2003; Page A24
JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 3 -- Burma's military
government today extended the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as
sources close to developments in the secretive country said she may have been
injured in a clash that preceded her arrest last week.
Zin Linn, an
official with a Burmese opposition group in exile, said Suu Kyi suffered a head
wound and a broken arm when she was beaten with a bamboo pole. The injuries
occurred when military officers and assailants under their command attacked her
motorcade Friday as she was making a political swing through northern Burma,
according to Linn, director of the east office of the National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma.
A non-Burmese source outside the
country said he also believed Suu Kyi had been injured and was being held at a
military hospital near Rangoon. He said his information was independent of
Linn's.
But Burmese officials told diplomats during a private briefing
today that Suu Kyi was in good health and being held in a "safe place" in
Rangoon, according to news reports from the capital. Deputy Foreign Minister
Khin Maung Win said reports that she had been injured during the clash were
false, a diplomat present at the briefing told the Associated Press.
The
minister did not say how long Suu Kyi would remain in custody or where she was
being kept.
Suu Kyi's status could become clearer later this week when
U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail visits Rangoon.
Suu Kyi, 57, a Nobel
laureate, was taken into "protective custody" last week along with at least 17
of her supporters. Government officials said four people were killed and 50
injured during the battle between her supporters and opponents near the town of
Dipeyin, about 400 miles north of Rangoon.
But Linn said he had heard
from two witnesses inside the country that at least 70 people were killed in
what he described as a "very systematic and well-planned attack" against Suu
Kyi's entourage. Linn lives outside Burma in another Southeast Asian country,
which he asked not be disclosed.
He described the assailants as a
combination of security forces, criminals and elements of the pro-government
Union Solidarity Development Association. Linn said members of Suu Kyi's
entourage were robbed of their jewelry, watches and other valuables and that
some of the assailants were taken aback by the cruelty of the attack.
It
was not possible to independently confirm Linn's account.
Suu Kyi's
detention came almost exactly a year after she had been released from house
arrest under an agreement brokered by Razali. That development provided new
momentum to efforts to secure a broader deal that could move Burma toward
democracy and end its international isolation.
In recent weeks, during
her month-long tour of the northern countryside, Suu Kyi had become increasingly
vocal in criticizing the government for failing to honor the landslide victory
of her National League for Democracy in the 1990 parliamentary elections. She
had also complained of the government's unwillingness to engage in serious talks
to resolve the deadlock.
Following Suu Kyi's arrest, officials shuttered
her party's Rangoon headquarters and offices elsewhere in the country. Linn said
about 100 offices have been sealed.
The
government has also suspended most classes at universities, colleges and
technical schools, long considered strongholds of Burma's democracy
movement.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Wednesday 04 June 2003
Govt urged to review ties with Burma
Kraisak says human
rights being violated
Apiradee
Treerutkuarkul
The Senate foreign affairs panel
has called on the government to review its relationship with Burma's ruling
military junta.
Panel chairman Kraisak Choonhavan made the call yesterday
in the wake of the junta's detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and 19 members of her
National League for Democracy party.
``The government should adopt a
standpoint and review its relationship with Burma where human rights are still
being violated,'' the senator said.
He called on the government to keep
a distance from the Rangoon junta and stop giving Burma an opportunity to take
part in any international forum.
Also, the government should take a key
role in raising the troubled situation in Burma for discussion at an Asean
forum.
``Mrs Suu Kyi is no longer an internal matter of the Burmese
government. The prime minister should not say the government would maintain its
long-held stance of not interfering in internal affairs of neighbouring
states,'' said Mr Kraisak.
He also demanded the junta release Mrs Suu Kyi
and her party members unconditionally.
The senator called on the United
Nations to review its study on the peace process in Burma, adding he did not
believe a report by UN special envoy Razali Ismail that Burma's human rights
situation had improved.
The government should not maintain business
dealings with the Burmese junta and should not continue paying 36 billion baht a
year to buy gas from Burma while the political conflict in that country remained
unresolved, Mr Kraisak said.
His panel would hand an official letter
expressing its concern over the Burmese situation to Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra as soon as it completed its study on human rights violations in
Burma, he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Wednesday 04 June 2003
EDITORIAL -An Asean response to Burma is critical
Remarks by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on the
situation inside Burma could be read in many ways. While the benign may see him
as genuinely concerned, those more cynical could see this as the posturing of a
leader currently hosting an event of international significance. Still others
might believe he is signalling a warning to the generals that he has had enough
of their recalcitrance, and has the option of joining with most of the rest of
the world in condemning their regime.
A fourth group may see the
comments in the context of his coming visit to the United States, where he will
meet with President George W. Bush. The prime minister spoke on the sidelines of
a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Khon Kaen. He would
have heard beforehand that President Bush had demanded the immediate release of
Aung San Suu Kyi and progress in the political dialogue. The US is a key player
in Apec, which Thailand is hosting throughout this year.
The prime
minister said the ``whole world'' was concerned about events inside Burma, and
called on Rangoon to bring the situation ``back to normal'' as soon as possible.
The comments were slightly surprising, given the effort this government has put
in over the past two years to appeasing Rangoon. But now he has apparently taken
one step forward by expressing sensitivity to world opinion on Burma, the prime
minister should go further by galvanising the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations into action.
The difficulty of such a task is clear to anyone who
has followed Asean and watched it dither over intra-regional politics while
growing fatter as a bureaucracy and trembling more critically under the weight
of economic rivalry. But it should not be impossible for a prime minister
wanting to be a regional force, a man who has already called on Asean to cut its
bureaucracy during a visit to its headquarters in Jakarta.
The excesses
in Burma of the past few days provide Asean with the ammunition to deliver the
generals an ultimatum to mend their ways or lose neighbourly protection from
international sanctions, which are now sure to increase. Burma has not honoured
its part of the contract since joining Asean in 1997, and Asean must keep
reminding the generals of this, or lose all credibility and leverage at keeping
members in line.
Asean cannot cite the need for evidence as an argument
for not taking punitive action against Rangoon. Asean knows well it would never
find evidence in a state so wrapped in secrecy. So it must make a political
decision based on historical precedence and practical logic.
The nine
other member states of Asean should now be busy talking together to produce a
joint statement that admonishes the Rangoon generals, and warns them in no
uncertain terms of undesirable repercussions. Asean has taken a step backwards
into a darker age since Burma joined an informal summit in Singapore over two
years ago. It must now move forward again by discarding the antiquated idea of
non-intervention.
This will take a huge leap. While Mr Thaksin appears
ready to move forward, the Foreign Ministry's response to the events in Burma
show it is still committed, at least sympathetically, to non-intervention.
Thailand's credibility requires it to move ahead. And, who knows, it might just
drag along some other Asean members into open discussion, and consultation. The
virtue of outsiders discussing a particular situation is that they are not
blinded by bias or experience of those involved. But outsiders should not have
such different societies and economies that they do not understand.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Japan Times: June 4,
2003
EDITORIAL - Myanmar shows its true
colors
The arrest of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and other top
officials of the National League for Democracy, or NLD, should shatter any
illusions about the Myanmar government's commitment to reconciliation in that
country. The widespread popularity of Ms. Suu Kyi and the prodemocracy forces is
a threat to the State Peace and Development Council -- the military junta that
has brought neither peace nor development to Myanmar.
Ms. Suu Kyi and
her followers must be released immediately and the national dialogue resumed.
Since that is unlikely, the international community must be prepared to take
strong action against the generals who continue to ignore the will of their
people.
The sad recent history of Myanmar is well known. After
prodemocracy forces won elections over a decade ago, the military ignored the
results and took control of the country. They imprisoned Ms. Suu Kyi and most of
her followers in an attempt to break the back of the NLD. The move failed: Ms.
Suu Kyi won a Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to democratic change in
Myanmar, and concerted international pressure finally won her release some 19
months ago. Since then, Ms. Suu Kyi has tried to rally her followers despite
steady attempts by the military to frustrate those efforts.
Events came
to a head last weekend during the last leg of a monthlong tour of the northern
part of the country. Apparently the enthusiasm that greeted the NLD leader
unnerved the government. The junta claims that her supporters started a clash
that resulted in four deaths. The NLD counters that Ms. Suu Kyi had been
harassed by progovernment groups throughout the tour and that her motorcade was
attacked by state-supported thugs, who started the melee. There are even claims
that someone tried to assassinate Ms. Suu Kyi, but reliable information is
difficult to come by.
The government detained Ms. Suu Kyi and more than
a dozen NLD officials after the latest incident, which left more than 70 people
injured in addition to the dead. The government says that Ms. Suu Kyi is in
protective custody in the capital city of Yangon, but her whereabouts are
unknown. There are reports that she was seriously injured in the brawl, but they
cannot be confirmed.
The government's other actions reveal their real
concerns. In addition to detaining Ms. Suu Kyi and Mr. Tin Oo, NLD vice
chairman, the government placed other leaders under "protective custody" --
house arrest -- as it shuttered NLD offices across the country and closed
universities where support for the prodemocracy movement is strong and where
demonstrations have broken out in the past. Last week, the government handed out
prison sentences ranging from two years to life to 10 NLD activists for
distributing antigovernment pamphlets.
There is no longer room for the
comfortable delusion that the government is moving toward engagement and
reconciliation at its own pace. Rather, the evidence is clear that the military
has been stalling while it betters its international position in preparation for
the furor that will follow when it reveals its true colors. The chorus of
international condemnation and dismay that followed the recent developments show
that much of the world was taken in by the kinder, gentler face of the
government. Yet there was little or no reason to believe that the junta that
rules Myanmar ever accepted the idea of giving up any of its power.
The
call for sanctions is going to be irresistible. The problem is that economic
pressure has already been applied and it has shown little effect. Worse, it has
driven the junta closer to China, which has no qualms about doing business with
the generals. Beijing has employed aggressive diplomacy over the past year to
build economic, political and military links with the government. Concern that
China is slowly drawing the country into its orbit compels Myanmar's neighbors
and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to soften their
own hard line. The bottom line is that there is little chance that the generals
will feel the need to compromise.
That does not mean that there is no
hope. It does mean that any strategy has to be carefully constructed and
integrated to make sure that all concerned governments are on board. There is
room for a division of labor that allows some countries to maintain ties to
Yangon while others take a hard line. The key is ensuring that they all send the
same message. At this point, the message must be the immediate release of Ms.
Suu Kyi and other NLD officials and serious talks about reconciliation.
Absent negotiations, the military regime should know that it will
receive nothing but humanitarian assistance and will remain on the margins of
the international community.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Seattle Post - Opinion
Tuesday, June 3,
2003
Arrest of a hero demands response
SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
While anti-globalization
demonstrators protested at the G-8 summit, the dictatorship in Myanmar is a
chilling reminder of the old-fashioned dangers facing nations.
The most
basic human requirement is freedom. Yet too many nations create abject misery at
home with brutal repression. The only goal of too many leaders is staying in
power; crushing any resistence to that end.
The military government in
the Asian nation, which is also known as Burma, has taken Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi back into custody. The generals claim she is being held for her
own protection.
As with North Korea, Cuba and Zimbabwe, nothing that
government says can be trusted. All have led their citizens into deepening
poverty while the rulers blame other countries for their difficulties and
destroy self-government.
In Myanmar, Suu Kyi courageously has stood up to
the dictatorship. Since being elected to head the government in 1990, Suu Kyi
has spent a good part of her time in custody. But even her international stature
hasn't spared her from attacks by the regime.
The country, once known as
the rice bowl of Asia, has deteriorated into economic collapse.
Suu Kyi's
detention should provide a clear signal to the world about the intransigence of
Myanmar authorities. Her case should spark global protests and concerted
diplomatic action.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Washington Post
Editorial - Crackdown in Burma
Tuesday, June 3, 2003; Page A22
"ABRUTAL ASSAULT" on
freedom, said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and his words appear to be, if
anything, an understatement. The military regime that has been gradually
grinding the people of Burma into poverty and repression alarmingly accelerated
the process in the past few days. Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of her
country, has been taken into custody, the ruling generals announced. A number of
her supporters in the National League for Democracy have been killed, and a
larger number have been arrested. NLD offices have been closed, and schools and
universities throughout Burma (which the regime calls Myanmar) have been
shuttered.
The motivation is clear. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party,
though they have no access to newspapers or television, remain wildly popular.
This frightens the generals. As the official newspaper complained Sunday, the
democrats "made attempts to organize people to come out in crowds and made
political speeches at every opportunity." Not only that: "Their acts violated
traffic rules." The flailing of the generals would be comical were it not so
sad, given the ruination of a potentially prosperous nation, and so dangerous,
given that no one knows the whereabouts or health of Aung San Suu Kyi. She and
her party won an overwhelming victory in a 1990 election but were not permitted
to take office.
The Bush administration should vigorously protest this
crackdown. A first step would be to freeze all assets and ban entry into the
United States of all government officials and their paramilitary thugs. A United
Nations representative, Razali Ismail, who is due in Burma on Friday, should
visit Aung San Suu Kyi or should not visit at all.
Many countries have
tried to coax the regime into better behavior. Japan, Australia and Malaysia
have argued that "engagement" and understanding would lead to reconciliation and
democratization. Now they should insist on results: the safety of Burma's
democracy leaders, first of all, and then the dialogue that the junta has been
promising. If they fail to deliver such results, they should join with the
United States, Britain and other nations in what Mr. McConnell calls "forceful
condemnation and concrete sanctions." Backward movement on democracy will mean
more terrorism, drug dealing and instability throughout the
region.