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Wired news on September 1, 1995 (Ad



Subject: Wired news on September 1, 1995 (Addition)

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired news on September 1, 1995 (Addition)
----------------------------------------------------


Thai Minister Meets Burma's Top Generals

      (Updates throughout, changes dateline) 

    RANGOON, Sept 1 (Reuter) - Thai Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
met the leaders of Burma's military government on Friday in the first
high-level meeting between the two countries since a recent period of
strained ties. 

    Chavalit was met at Rangoon airport by Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw and
travelled into the capital for a meeting with the head of Burma's ruling
military body, General Than Shwe, Burmese government officials said. 

    Also present at the talks were military intelligence chief
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt and army commander in chief General Maung Aye. 

    Chavalit also visited two museums and played golf. More talks were
planned for Saturday before his return to Bangkok, the officials said. 

    Earlier on Friday Chavalit told reporters in Bangkok he would offer Burma
full cooperation in its military campaign against opium rebel Khun Sa. 

    ``Khun Sa is a narcotics trafficker so Thailand is ready to offer full
cooperation in crushing him if the Burmese government asks for it,'' Chavalit
told reporters before leaving for Rangoon. 

    Chavalit declined to elaborate in what particular areas Thailand could
help Burma in its campaign against the warlord, who controls zones in
northeastern Shan state near the border with Thailand. 

    Last week a senior official from Burma's military government told Reuters
Thailand must stop supplies being smuggled across its border to Khun Sa if he
is ever to be defeated. 

    Thailand officially sealed its northern border with areas controlled by
Khun Sa last year. But smugglers are known to still operate along some remote
sections of the frontier. 

    Chavalit was visiting after a period of strained bilateral relations
since the beginning of the year, when Burmese forces launched an offensive
against autonomy-seeking guerrillas in southeast Burma, forcing thousands of
refugees into Thailand. 

    In the most recent incident to strain ties, Thai operators of two fishing
boats last month attacked 18 Burmese crewmen, leaving six dead and five
missing. 

    Chavalit said he would not seek a meeting with Burma's democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi. 

    ``Aung San Suu Kyi is an ordinary politician. There's nothing significant
in her so why do I have to see her,'' he said. 

    While army chief in December, 1988, Chavalit became the first foreign
dignitary to visit Burma in the aftermath of the bloody crushing of a
pro-democracy uprising that year. 

    Shortly after his visit Thailand repatriated scores of Burmese dissidents
who had fled the crackdown in Burma to the Thai side of the frontier, many of
them by force. 

    At the same time Burma granted extensive logging concessions to Thai
companies in southeastern and eastern Burmese frontier areas. 

Reut08:42 09-01-95
------------------------------------

Abright Visits Burma, Indonesia and Philippines
   
   UNITED NATIONS, Sept 1 (Reuter) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Madeleine Albright intends to visit Burma next week, the highest U.S.
official to do so since the military junta took office, her spokesman
announced on Friday. 

    Albright, head of the 46-member U.S. delegation to the Fourth
International Women's Conference in Beijing, also will visit Indonesia and
the Philippines after her three-day trip to China. She leaves the United
States on Sunday for Hawaii to meet first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the
trip to China. 

    In Burma, where she arrives on September 8, Albright will visit
government officials as well as democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi,
released last month from house arrest after six years. She led pro-democracy
uprisings in Rangoon in 1988, brutally crushed by the military which
prevented her party from taking office. 

    Albright's spokesman James Rubin said the visit was ``not a signal of any
acceptance of their practices or a reward for releasing Aung San Suu Kyi.'' 

    Instead, he said Albright would tell the military leadership that it sees
``progress on democracy, human rights and the rights of minorities in Burma''
as a necessary precondition'' for any further relations. 

    The ruling military-run State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
has been criticised by the United Nations and all major human rights groups
for its crackdown on democracy and forced labour, rape and other abuses by
the army against peasants in border areas. 

    The Clinton administration has been harsly critical of Burma and froze
economic assistance but it has not stopped any U.S. investments in the
southeast Asian country. The last visit to Burma was in November 1994 by
Thomas Hubbard, the deputy assistant secretary of state. 

    In Indonesia and the Phillipines, both leaders in the non-aligned
movement, Albright will meet government leaders and discuss U.S. goals and
objective for the upcoming 50th anniversary session of the U.N. General
Assembly, Rubin said. Albright has already said she wants to focus on reform
of the U.N. bureaucracy, under attack in Congress. 

Reut14:21 09-01-95
-------------------------------

Drifting Burmese Fishermen Repatriated

      RANGOON, Aug 30 (Reuter) - Seventy-one Burmese fishermen who drifted
out to sea during storms have been brought back to Rangoon from India's Port
Blair on a special flight, official media reported on Wednesday. 

    The repatriation was made through a special arrangement between the
Burmese Embassy in India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

    An additional 85 fishermen will be brought back on August 31, the media
reported. 

Reut07:25 08-30-95
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