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Mon Declaration-Canada



MENT ON THE 239 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
FALL OF MON KINGDOM HONGSAVATOI


As the 239th  anniversary of the  Mon kingdom Hongsavatoi is
on May 9 , 1996, we, the Mon National Organization of Canada,
have released this statement to express our deep concern for
the Mon people and the present situation in Burma.

The Mon kingdom, which was situated in the lower part of Burma,
had flourished in peace and prosperity for several centuries
until it was occupied by the Burman dynasty in 1757. At that
time the last kingdom was devastated and tens of thousands of
Mons including learned Buddhist monks, pregnant women and
children were being killed by king U Aungzeya of Burma.
After this massacre many Mons fled to the southern most part 
of Burma and into Thailand to escape further oppression, 
persecution and enslavement by the conqueror.

After Burma was independent from the British colonial rule in
1948, it became a country where protracted civil war raged on
seriously because of denying the rights to self-determination
of the ethnic peoples. The country that once was rich in South
East Asia had dropped down to one of the least developed coun-
try (LDC) in the world and the suppressive military regime,
namely State Law and Order Restoration Council ( SLORC )
seized state power by killing thousands of demonstrators in
a nation-wide uprising for democracy in 1988.

Currently, the military regime has reached a cease-fire
agreement with its opposition ethnic armed forces and it
seems a peaceful condition has been achieved to the satisfaction
of all the people of Burma. The New Mon State Party ( NMSP )
entered into a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese junta on
June 29 1995 and this deal contained no political solution
and as such was simply a military agreement. As a result of 
this the Thai autorities have recently forced aproximately
14.000 Mon refugees to go back into Burma even as new comers
are arriving to avoid supression under the regime. At the
same time SLORC has considerably increased its use of
thousands of forced labour to speed up the construction of
the Ye-Tavoy railway, which connects Mon State and Tenessarim
Division for security of the billion dollar gas pipeline
project of the Total company of France and the UNOCAL 
corporation of the United States.

Apparently, the Mon National Organization of Canada understands
that the agreement reached between NMSP and SLORC is not the
rights process for a genuine peace and it does not represent
the wishes of the Mons and majority of the other people still
living in Burma as well as overseas Mons. As the human rights
violations and oppression by the SLORC continue the suffering
of all peoples in Burma also continues

On this tragic day of the 239th anniversary of the fall of
Mon kingdom Hongsavatoi we, the Mon National Organization of
Canada, urgently recommend the international communities to
take the following action:

1) Stop the project of constructing a 500 mile gas pipeline
   from Monland.

2) Stop the conscription of forced labour for constructing of
   Ye-Tavoy railway and forced relocation of the villages.

3) Call a tripartite dialogue among the military regime of
   SLORC, opposition democratic political parties and the
   ethnic leaders,

4) Permit international human rights observers and the United
   Nations access to Burma to all prisons, detention centres
   and ethnic areas.

5) Boycott companies doing business with the military regime.

6) Stop all arms trade with the military regime and pass a UN
   resolution forbidding member states all military support to
   Burma


May 9 1966

Mon National Organization of Canada
Fraser Street 6416  Suite 142
Vancouver, BC V5W 3A4
Canada.
Tel/Fax ( 604 ) 321 9871