EBO
News Summary:
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1.
2.
3.
Statement made by Congressman Michael E. Capuano on
attacks to Aung
San Suu Kyi
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members
of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi's party for
inciting public
unrest,
sources said on Saturday.
The three, including one candidate elected in
election,
were jailed on Thursday, a National League for Democracy (NLD)
source
told AFP.
"Three people have received jail terms for alleged anti-government
activities,"
the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Win Myint Maung, Win Maung and Tin Hlaing were apparently jailed after
authorities
raided a house and found incriminating evidence.
The jail terms, handed down in the Sagaing
division of central
come
with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi due to pass through the
area
as part of an ongoing tour.
----------------------------------
campaigner
Aung San Suu Kyi were forced to "run for their lives" when members
of
a pro-junta group tried to run them over with their cars, her party said
here
Monday.
A dozen vehicles forced the supporters to flee as they waited along the
sides
of roads to greet Aung San Suu Kyi in Sagaing, in
northern
The Nobel Peace Prize-winner, who is currently on her longest political
trip
outside
has
been routinely harassed by the Union Solidarity Development Association
(USDA), an official social organisation
claiming some 19 million members.
"The USDA people organised around 12 cars and pickup trucks loaded
with
people.
They tried to drive along both sides of her motorcade so people on the
roadside
had to run for their lives," National League for Democracy (NLD)
party
spokesman U Lwin told AFP.
"That was what they were shouting: 'Run for your lives, stay away
from Aung
San Suu Kyi's motorcade or you will have to
pick up your own corpse'... It was
a
very serious incident," he said.
The protestors, who he believed came from nearby villages and were paid
by
the
USDA, wielded stakes, knives and catapults.
"In one place they hit the bonnet of Aung San Suu Kyi's car, and then one
youth
beside her got hit in the head by (something shot from) a catapult," U
Lwin
said, adding that the USDA harassment was becoming more serious.
"I must say it is getting worse. Now they are using stakes,
catapults and
brickbats
when they come to the scene."
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have already complained of increasing
harassment
from the military government, particularly of the thousands of
supporters
who flock to see her.
Her current trip is being viewed as a test of whether the regime will
attempt
any serious disruption.
U Lwin said that the trip, during which she
has reopened 10 NLD offices in
a
bid to boost her party's operations, has been successful, with thousands
turning
out, as usual, to catch a glimpse of her.
But the spokesman said he planned to raise the issue of harassment with
junta
officials.
"I have to make some discussions again about the way they are
handling the
USDA people. It's not enough," he said.
"These things are happening right under the eyes of the local
authorities,
the
traffic police and village elders."
Aung San Suu Kyi is currently on her way to
diplomat
credited with brokering historic talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and
the
junta from October 2000.
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SPEECH OF
HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO
OF
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform my colleagues of the
despicable
attack on a key democratic figure in
by
Than Shwe and his brutal military regime.
A few days ago, the political arm of Than Shwe's
regime, the
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), launched an attack against
Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade as she was traveling to give a speech about
freedom
in
sticks,
USDA members beat on the doors of the motorcade and attempted to
steal
cameras and other items.
This is only one of many recent occasions in which the USDA has harassed
and
intimidated Aung San Suu Kyi, her political opposition group called
the
National League for Democracy (NLD), and their supporters. In order to
interfere
with her efforts to speak about democratization in
regime
has threatened her supporters with water hoses on fire trucks and
blared
loud music so that others cannot hear her speeches. Authorities
have
repeatedly deterred and prevented her supporters from attending her
speeches
by threatening them with arrest, and have turned back several
busloads
full of people.
I find it appalling that Than Shwe's soldiers
would threaten one of the
world's
great freedom fighters with blunt weapons. Aung San Suu Kyi and
the
NLD are the legitimately elected leaders of their country-they won 82
percent
of the seats in parliament in an internationally recognized
election,
even though the regime refuses to recognize the results. As an
elected
Representative of the citizens of
stand
by while men like Than Shwe so grossly violate the
very principles
upon
which this House was built.
Than Shwe
continues to terrorize the population of
regime
have forced much of the population into modern-day slave labor,
locked
up about 1,400 political prisoners including students, monks, nuns,
and
18 members of parliament, and recruited an astounding 70,000 child
soldiers--far
more than any other country in the world. Perhaps most
disturbing,
our own State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Rights, and
Labor
conducted an impressive investigation into rapes in
confirmed
the regime is using rape as a weapon of war. As we learned from
cronies
should be brought to justice.
Most importantly,
seriously.
It has denied the use of rape as a weapon, stated that is has
no
child soldiers, and refuses to acknowledge the detention and torture of
political
prisoners. For this reason, it should not be surprising that
Than Shwe has ignored the promise he made over
a year ago to enter into a
dialogue
with Aung San Suu Kyi, facilitated by the United Nations, aimed
at
a transition to freedom and democracy. Instead, he has flaunted the
good-faith
efforts of the United Nations Special Envoy to
Ismail, and by extension, the entire United
Nations General Assembly.
I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning these recent attacks and
urge
the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Rights, and Labor
to
register
our condemnation of the regime at the highest levels.
###
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Euro-Burma Office
Square Gutenberg 11/2
1000
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