DBSO's Letter to President Clinton

[aung@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Democratic Burmese Students' Organization (USA)
P.O.Box 91, Rockville, MD 20851
Tel.(301)217-0356, Fax.(301)770-7416; email: freeburma@xxxxxxx


President Bill Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 
Washington, DC 20500 
							February 2, 1995

Dear Mr. President:

	With this letter, we, Burmese students in the US, would like to express
our great concern about the recent developments in the national conflict of our 
native country.  As you are much aware, last week the military junta of Burma 
has again broken its much publicized promise to seek internal peace through 
peaceful means by launching heavy offensives against Manerplaw, the headquarter
of Karen ethnic people. Many people died and a total of 15.000 people had to 
flee to nearby Thailand.

	Last year, the military junta of Burma repeatedly assured the 
international community that it would peacefully resolve its differences with 
ethnic minorities. Even in the UN General Assembly, Ohn Kyaw, the foreign 
minister of Burma, publicly  reiterated his government's plan to bring about 
cease-fires with ethnic groups. True to its nature, the military elite has 
once again broken its promise blatantly.

	Since the time of its independence in 1948, Burma has been ravaged by 
a multiethnic insurgency against the Rangoon government.  Successive military 
governments have unsuccessfully attempted to solve this problem by military 
means. Time and again, ethnic groups have tried in vain to come to a 
negotiation table with the ruling elite.  After realizing that national 
reconciliation cannot be achieved by any other means than negotiation, the 
present military government of Burma, namely the State Law and Order 
Restoration Council, began to utter its desire to have a dialog with the 
ethnic peoples. 

	Toward this end, many parties in conflict including the Karen have 
worked to have a dialog with the SLORC.  The military junta itself repeatedly 
promised to use peaceful means to resolve the national conflict. However, last
week's attacks on the Karen people is clearly  a despicable bleach of promise.

	So far about 15,000 people have fled to Thailand to seek refuge there.
These people are victims of over-40-year-long civil war between the Rangoon 
government and the Karen people. Now they are in urgent need of shelter, food,
and medicines.  Besides, their life is precarious in the hands of Thai 
authorities who have business links with the ruling military junta of Burma. 
Since mistreatment of refugees along the Thai-Burmese border is widespread, 
the presence of international human rights groups and relief agencies is a 
necessity.

	Therefore, we would like to request you to urge the Thai government to
provide asylum to those people who have fled the battles and to assist 
international relief workers in their work. And we also would like you to call
on the military junta of Burma to halt attacks on the ethnic people and to 
resolve the national conflict only by peaceful means.

Sincerely,

(Signed)			(Signed)
Yin Aye				Shwe Sin Htun
Representative (East Coast)	Representative (East Coast)
DBSO (USA)			DBSO (USA)



Cc:	U.S. Secretary of State
	U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia & Pacific