Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee

( ENSCC )

Statement on the Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

The Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee (ENSCC) commends the unconditional release by the SPDC of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from a 19-months unlawful house arrest, and with respect to the meeting of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with Khun Htun Oo and other ethnic nationalities leaders, the ENSCC welcomes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's statesman-like and correct stand on the right of the ethnic nationalities: their right to self-determination and the right to resolve their own problems within the national reconciliation framework.

The ENSCC, formed to achieve national reconciliation in Burma through tripartite dialogue, is encouraged by the recent development in Burma owed to the efforts and good office of Special Envoy H.E. Razali Ismail, and will continue to work closely with all parties in Burma, with the U.N., and with international supporters of peace and national reconciliation.

The ENSCC calls upon the SPDC to respond constructively to the high expections raised by its release of Daw Aung Suukyi and urge the SPDC to recognize the rights of the ethnic nationalities to fully and meaningfully participate in the national reconciliation process. In this respect, there is a need for ethnic national leaders and organizations to meet to resolve Burma's problem. Specifically, the ENSCC looks forward to the SPDC's cooperation in the on-going efforts of the ethnic nationalities to build a peaceful and harmonious federal Union of Burma in accordance with the Panglong spirit.

Date: 9 May, 2002

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Media contact:

Pado Ba Thin, Chairman of ENSCC

Tel: 01-71 67 242

E-mail: [email protected]

U Teddi Buri

External Affair Relations

Tel: 09-776 53 73

E-mail: [email protected]