[burmanet2-l] Regarding Congressman

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: [burmanet2-l] Regarding Congressman Tony P Hall's Trip to Burma

What is Hall's address, tel, fax,
this guy needs some real mind-cleaning after his rangoon brainwash
by the generals. since, when, and why now is Hall getting on the 
general bandwagon? has he been bribed because these is
very corrupt thinking on  his part? dawn star

Julien Moe wrote:
> 
> Sunday January 17 8:16 AM ET
> 
> Humanitarian Aid Urged for Myanmar
> 
> BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A U.S. congressman on Sunday appealed for
> large-scale humanitarian aid to Myanmar, rejecting arguments that such
> assistance would merely sustain that country's harsh military regime.
> 
> ``Humanitarian concerns are taking a back seat in Burma. But I've always
> believed that human concerns and human rights go together,'' Rep. Tony P.
> Hall, D-Ohio, told reporters in Bangkok.
> 
> Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whom Hall met last week,
> opposes foreign aid to her country, saying some 50 percent of it is siphoned
> off by the military.
> 
> The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has also criticized some foreign aid workers
> for allegedly ``collaborating'' with the regime and promoting poorly
> conceived projects.
> 
> Hall quoted Suu Kyi as saying she would reverse her stance only if there was
> a 100 percent guarantee that foreign aid would not go to supporting the
> government.
> 
> Hall said Myanmar, also known as Burma, was plagued by malnutrition,
> diseases, poor education and the rapid spread of AIDS. Myanmar is ranked as
> one of the world's poorest nations.
> 
> ``If humanitarian aid is not provided a whole generation will be lost. The
> need is tremendous,'' Hall said, adding that waiting to provide foreign
> assistance until democracy is restored might take years and merely prolong
> poverty and suffering.
> 
> Hall said he brought up the government's alleged human rights abuses in his
> meeting with strongman Gen. Khin Nyunt.
> 
> The regime is widely criticized for arresting political opponents, torture
> and ruthlessness in dealing with ethnic minorities. It routinely denies such
> charges.
> -----------------
>  US Lawmaker rejects opposition veto

> South China Morning Post - 18th Jan
> BKK
> Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi should not have a veto on aid to her
> country, a United States congressman said yesterday.
> 
> Tony Hall, a prominent aid advocate, said Burma's health, education and food
> problems were "too dire for the international community to ignore".
> 
> "I would not say that she should have veto powers at all," he said in
Bangkok
> after a visit to Burma.
> 
> The opposition's suspicions that the military regime would cream off or
manage
> aid money has effectively cut Burma off from all but a trickle of
humanitarian
> help.
> 
> The congressman, who has encouraged health and food programmes for North
Korea
> and Sudan, said the world should not be blinded by politics to the Burmese
> people's "tremendous" problems such as HIV, hunger, dirty water and
> illiteracy.
> 
> Mr Hall said Ms Aung San Suu Kyi had been isolated by the regime and so
> "doesn't really get a chance" to see many of the problems faced by her
fellow
> citizens.
> 
> He urged her to let reputable non-government organisations know she was not
> opposed to humanitarian work as long as they could give "a 100 per cent
> guarantee that it would not benefit the regime".
> 
> Ms Aung San Suu Kyi claimed some aid workers ended up as government
> "collaborators" and that more than 50 per cent of all assistance was
siphoned
> off, he said.
> 
> She also asked that anyone offering humanitarian assistance to Burma should
> consult the National League for Democracy - which won a 1990 election by an
> overwhelming majority only to be ignored by the military.
> 
> But Mr Hall said many aid organisations saw consultations with any political
> party as "going down a slippery slope" and had concentrated their efforts in
> other, less complicated countries.
> 
> Burma's military intelligence chief, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, had
given
> Mr Hall the usual line that the regime "was working towards democracy while
> safeguarding law and order".
> 
> Nevertheless the general had "promised to be gentle and lenient with the
> opposition and would try to find agreement with them", said Mr Hall, who had
> asked the military junta to release political prisoners and stop persecuting
> ethnic minorities.
> ---------------
> 
> World: Asia-Pacific
> 
> US congressman calls for aid to Burma
> 
> An American Congressman, who's just returned from a trip to Burma, has said
> the country is in desperate need of large scale humanitarian aid.
> 
> The congressman, Tony Hall, a Democrat, said that withholding international
> aid until there's real democracy in Burma would only prolong the poverty and
> suffering.
> 
> His call conflicts with the policy of the opposition National League for
> Democracy, whose leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, argues that any aid will go into
> the pockets of Burma's generals and won't change the lives of ordinary
people.
> 
> >From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
> 
> 
> 
> --------------