EBO
News Summary:
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1.
2. MARTENS: “MILITARY SHOULD GIVE IN
GRACEFULLY”
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by P. Parameswaran
NUSA DUA,
ended talks here Thursday, demanding the
immediate release of
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and calling on
nuclear ambitions.
The ministers said in a statement that
immediately release the Nobel peace prizewinner and other members of the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and
ensure them political
freedom.
They also called upon
reconciliation and democracy", according to the
statement issued after the
Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM).
custody" on May 30 after her supporters were
ambushed by a pro-junta gang
during a tour of the country's north.
"This is a good statement,
particularly on
and weapons of mass destruction," said
Chris Patten, European Union external
relations commissioner.
The Europeans have imposed political and
economic sanctions while the
Asians prefer the problem be resolved
through diplomatic channels.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri
in her formal opening remarks
Thursday said, without referring to
should respect differences and not impose their
will on each other.
EU Commissioner Patten downplayed the
differences.
"There is no difference of opinion
about the importance of
releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and (her party's)
activists, who have been locked
up, and getting back to the process of
reconciliation," he told reporters.
European nations have made it clear that
they would not allow
become a member of ASEM unless it releases Aung
San Suu Kyi and allows
democracy.
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MARTENS: “MILITARY SHOULD GIVE IN GRACEFULLY”
EPP President Wilfried
Martens said today that the Burmese junta was simply
trying to buy time by releasing a token number
of prisoners arrested along
with National League for Democracy (NLD)
leader Aung San Su Kyii on May 30.
More than 1,500 political prisoners remain
incarcerated, and more people
continue to be arrested. Daw Suu's
whereabouts are unknown, and she is being
held incommunicado.
"It is not just the European Union
and the
in ASEAN who are telling the generals that
there is only one way out of this
impasse," Martens said. "That is
dialogue and a peaceful transition to democracy."
The time was approaching when fine
declarations - "falling entirely on deaf ears" –
had to stop, Martens said, and for the
international community to act against
the self-styled State Peace and Development
Council military regime.
Its enormous army, coupled with dependence
on opium-dealing and wholesale
incompetence, made it a danger to the security of the
whole region.
The EPP leader said that the SPDC's
deliberate smashing of the National League
for Democracy, which won a landslide victory
in the free elections of 1988, could
only make the process towards a normal
democracy more difficult.
"The key to a peaceful future is a
broad consensus among
from the NLD capable of forging such an
agreement and bringing
into the daylight. The time is ripe for the
spread of democracy and human
freedom to reach
Further information: call Jose-Luis Fontalba on (322) 285 4160 or
Edward Steen on GSM
[32] (0) 478 530006.
More on EPP and its member parties: see www.eppe.org.
Published by the
European People’s Party. Rue d’Arlon 67,
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