Burmese Dissident Renews

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/* Written  5:17 am  Jun 13, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Burmese Dissident Renews" ---------- */
Subject : Burmese Dissident Renews Call for Western Help

   MONTREAL (Reuter) - The leader of Burma's government in
exile urged western governments Friday to impose sanctions
against the military junta ruling his country.
   Dr Sein Win, prime minister of the National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma, said in an interview in
Montreal that he asked Canada, the United States and several
European nations to impose a trade embargo against the military
government.
   He also asked for more financial and humanitarian aid for
the democratic opposition, whose members have been arrested by
the military government.
   Win, in exile in Washington, D.C., heads the coalition
government formed after the National League for Democracy swept
Burma's May 1990 general elections. The party is led by Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, currently detained in
Burma.
   The military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, has refused to hand over power, and has been accused by
the U.N. Human Rights Commission of serious human rights
violations, including torture and arbitrary executions.
   Win, Aung San Suu Kyi's first cousin, said he did not get
any concrete answers from Ottawa regarding tougher policies
against the military junta. Nor did the United States, a leading
critic of the junta, promise aid to the opposition.
   "We asked them for a trade embargo and sanctions, but it's
not been fulfilled because the U.S. is one of the top countries
with investment in Burma," he said.
   The United States tops the list of countries with foreign
investments in Burma. From 1988-1993 28 American firms invested
$287 million in the country, according to a report, Burma Alert,
published by an expatriate Burmese group.


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