BurmaNet News August 20, 1996 #494

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The BurmaNet News: August 20, 1996
Issue #494

HEADLINES:
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DASSK: SPEECH AUGUST 17TH
AP: SUU KYI ASSTISTANT GETS 7 YEAR SENTENCE
NATION: MILITARY REGIME URGED TO IMPRISON SUU KYI
BKK POST: PAPERS URGE ACTION AGAINST SUU KYI FOR PEACE 
AP: TOTAL EXPANSION SEEN PAYING OFF DESPITE PRESSURES
NATION: BIG HEROIN BUST IN BURMA
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DASSK: SPEECH AUGUST 17TH
August 17, 1996

Aung San Suu Kyi's Comments in English at the Conclusion of her 4:00pm talk,

I will speak just a few minutes in English so those visitors who have come
here can understand what we have been saying.

At the beginning, I responded to letters that came up from the audience.
There were a number of letters concerned about the fact that school children
are being forced to become members of USDA -- the Union Solidarity Development
Association -  and that teachers are made to take the names of students who
refuse to become members.  This, in our view, is a gross violation of the
right of people not to become members of associations to which they do not
wish to become members.  This is an association under the patronage of the
government.  There is a lot of unfair pressure exerted not just on school
children, but on ordinary citizens to become a member of this association.

Towards the second half I was talking about democracy in general and about how
democracy was achieved in Czachoslovakia, because I think there are some
parallels that can be drawn between the situation in Czachoslovakia before
1988 and the situation here in Burma.  So my main message to our people is
that even a few dedicated people can change the whole system.  So, we have
here more than a few people who are dedicated to changing the system in Burma.
 To a democratic one that will ensure the rights of all our citizens.  That
was the main gist of my message.  Thank you very much.  (end)

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AP: SUU KYI ASSTISTANT GETS 7 YEAR SENTENCE
August 19, 1996

RANGOON -- The personal assistant to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi 
has been sentenced to seven years in prison, sources in Suu Kyi's National 
League for Democracy said Monday, reports the Associated Press.

Win Htein was arrested May 21, three days before the league -- the 
country's main opposition party -- held a three-day congress.

In the week before the meeting, more than 250 league members were 
detained in a failed effort by the government to block the meeting. Most 
were party members elected to parliament in the 1990 general election, 
the results of which the military government refused to recognize.

Most of the detainees were released, but about 20, including Win, were 
kept under arrest and sent to the high security prison at Insein in 
Rangoon's suburbs.

The party sources who confirmed Win Htein arrest were unable to say on 
what charge he was convicted. Trials are, for all practical purposes, not 
open, and they are rarely covered in the state-controlled press.

Win Htein was arrested May 21, three days before the league -- the 
country's main opposition party -- held a three-day congress.

The party sources who confirmed Win Htein's arrest were unable to say on 
what charge he was convicted. Trials are, for all practical purposes, not 
open, and they are rarely covered in the state-controlled press.

**********************************************************

NATION: MILITARY REGIME URGED TO IMPRISON SUU KYI
August 19, 1996

RANGOON - A column in yesterday's state-run newspaper in Burma
called on authorities to arrest Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi, leader of the country's pro-democracy movement.

The column appealed to the military government "to  remove  from 
among the public, Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues in the
interest of law and order."

Authored by Shaynay Kyaw, which means "well-known lawyer," and is
believed to be the pen name of a senior military officer, the
column said "legal punishment against offenders by imprisonment
and deportation is for the peace and tranquility of the general
public"

The writer accused Suu Kyi of being at the "forefront of
violating the laws or instigating others to do so," since 1988.
He said authorities had been too lenient with 51-year-old Suu Kyi
because she was the daughter of Burma's independence hero Gen
Aung San.

Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent
campaign to bring democracy to Burma, which has been ruled by the
military since 1962.

She spent six years under house arrest from 1989 until 1995 for
her role in the democracy movement. Hundreds of other democracy
activists have also spent several years in prison, or are still
incarcerated, for their political activities.

Since her release, Suu Kyi has refrained from calling for street
demonstrations and has taken a legalistic approach toward her
battle for democracy, striving to operate within Burma's
restrictive laws while challenging its military rulers.

But the several thousand people who gather in front of her
Rangoon home each weekend to attend her democracy forums are
technically breaking the law. Gatherings of more than five people
are illegal in Burma.

The government imposed an additional decree during June that
allows them to meter out 20 year prison terms and confiscate all
property belonging to those who attend such meetings. So far,
they have taken no action.

Most Western analysts believe that arresting Suu Kyi would
be a serious mistake by the military government. The United
State Senate recently passed a bill that would allow President
Bill Clinton to enact harsh economic sanctions against Burma
if the military crack down on Suu Kyi.

Rumours circulated in June that the military would arrest Suu
Kyi, prompting Japan and several Western nations to warn the
rulers that tough action would follow if they carried out their threat. 

******************************************************

BKK POST: PAPERS URGE ACTION AGAINST SUU KYI FOR PEACE 
August 19, 1996 (abridged)

Latest salvo targets NLD over rule of law

Legal action should be taken against democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi to ensure peace and stability for the
Burmese people, official newspapers said yesterday.

The call for legal action against the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner came in a commentary entitled, "The rule of law and the
danger of traitors", carried in two of the government's
Burmese-language newspapers.

"The entire ... people desire  peace, stability and development.
Such desire of the people can only be fulfilled by means of the
rule of law," the commentary said.

"There cannot be rule of law with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her
group breaking the law ... Remove those who are breaking the law
in order to pave the way for the rule of law quickly," the
commentary urged.

The Sunday  attack was the latest salvo in a war of words between
the military government and the democracy leader which
intensified in May with a government crackdown on Mrs Suu Kyi's
party, the  National League for  Democracy.

One of her main criticisms of the government is that there is no
rule of law in Burma, with the military rulers wielding arbitrary
power.    

The newspapers did not  specify what laws Mrs Suu Kyi was alleged
to be breaking, but sweeping security regulations ban public
gatherings of more than five people in Burma.

*******************************************************

AP: TOTAL EXPANSION SEEN PAYING OFF DESPITE PRESSURES
August 19, 1996 (abridged)

PARIS -- Total SA may be in the political hot seat, but analysts say a 
string of controversial investments by the French oil and gas company are 
about to pay off.

Total, France's second largest oil and gas group after Elf Aquitaine SA, has 
recently come under fire for a $600 million oil exploration deal in Iran 
and a natural gas pipeline project in Burma.

But analysts say Total's aggressive move to focus on oil and gas exploration 
and production, regardless of the location or political pressures, will send 
the company's earnings, and stock price, upward this year.

'Total can't choose where oil is going to be found,' said Christopher 
Buckley, an oil analyst at Morgan Stanley in London. 'Their attitude is: if 
we don't go in, others will.'

And in they have gone. Total now has operations in 80 countries, with oil 
and gas production spread over the Middle East, North Sea, Southeast Asia 
and Latin America.

Total's strategy of spreading its interests around the globe has its political 
risks. Two weeks ago, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a law sanctioning 
businesses that investment in Iran and Libya, where Total has made recent 
deals.

The bill, sponsored by U.S. senator Alfonse D'Amato, calls for sanctions on 
foreign firms that invest $40 million or more a year in Iran or Libya's 
energy sectors.

Total was a main target of the law, having been warned earlier this year by 
D'Amato that it's investments in Iran were 'very distressing.'

Total says it isn't affected, however, because the U.S. law is not 
retroactive. The company invested $600 million in two oil fields at Sirri, 
Iran in July 1995 and is now seeking partners in the deal.

It was the first foreign company to have signed a deal with Iran after the 
Iranian revolution in 1979. Total plans to start production there in 1998, 
and sees yields of 120,000 barrels a day within five years.

The company also has varied investments in Libya through partnerships.

In addition, Total has taken political heat over its project in Burma where, 
along with Unocal of the U.S., the company is working on a $1.2 billion 
pipeline to transport gas from the Yadana field off the Burmese coast.

So far, Total's stock price seems to have emerged relatively unscathed 
from these political issues.

The company's shares were briefly buffeted in July, however, after a 
Danish pension fund sold its 60 million kroner shareholding in protest of 
the Burmese pipeline deal.

A British television documentary had claimed the company was using 
children and forced labor to build a pipeline linking gas fields in Burma to 
Thailand.

And Burmese opposition leader Aun San Suu Kyi, in an interview with the 
French daily Le Monde, charged that through its participation in the 
pipeline project, Total was 'the biggest supporter of the military regime 
in Burma.'

Total refuted the documentary's allegations, saying it was building the 63 
kilometer pipeline, part of an offshore gas exploration project, with the 
same employment rules it was using all over the world. And Desmarest has 
said repeatedly that he believes economic isolation won't solve political 
problems.

'Total is geographically well positioned,' said Merrill Lynch's Graham. 'It 
doesn't need to rely on one area. Even without the Iran deal, Total would be 
doing great.'

Analysts say they aren't worried that Total's image, or stock price, will be 
tarnished by its aggressive exploration strategy into countries viewed as 
'pariah states' by the U.S.

'Total people are good diplomats - they seem to handle these kind of crises 
well,' said Jean-Jacques Limage, analyst at EIFB, the brokerage arm of the 
insurer GAN.

'Total is strong because they have learned to spread their risks around the 
world,' said Aymeric de Villaret, an analyst at Societe Generale in Paris.

***********************************************************

NATION: BIG HEROIN BUST IN BURMA
August 19, 1996

RANGOON - Authorities in northeastern Burma seized 44.8
kilogrammes of heroin and arrested two men in one of the largest
narcotics seizures in recent times, official media reported yesterday.

The reports said military intelligence agents and local
authorities, acting on a tip-off, stopped and searched a van at
Ho-pong in southern Shan state on Aug 6 and found 106 blocks of
heroin.
     
Two men travelling in the van, which was headed for Taunggyi, the
capital of Shan state, were arrested.

A search of the van several days later uncovered 16 more blocks
of heroin hidden in a secret compartment  in the vehicle.

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