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U.N. official to discuss Burma's im



Subject: U.N. official to discuss Burma's image 

	Subject: U.N. official to discuss Burma's image
	===============================================

    	RANGOON, Feb 19 (Reuter) - The U.N. Director of Political
	Affairs is in Burma on a six-day visit to discuss how to improve
	the country's battered image abroad, a Rangoon-based U.N.
	official said on Wednesday.
    	
	Francese Vendrell arrived on Monday, said the official, who
	asked not to be identified.
    
	"The main purpose of Mr Vendrell's visit is for consultation
	with the Burmese government about improving Burma's
	international image," he said.
    	Official newspapers said Vendrell called on Secretary
	General U Than Aung of the government-sponsored Union Solidarity
	and Development Association (USDA) on Tuesday.
    
	The USDA was the group accused by Burma's opposition of
	launching an attack with sticks and rocks on the motorcade of
	their leader Aung San Suu Kyi last November.
    	Suu Kyi earlier this month said a government minister had
	urged USDA members to kill her. The government has dismissed the
	charge.
    	
	A diplomatic source said Vendrell was expecting to meet Suu
	Kyi before he left Burma on February 23.
    	Burma's government has held hundreds of opposition activists
	in recent years, although many of them have since been released,
	and Suu Kyi has accused it of harassing her party, the National
	League for Democracy.
    
	Some major corporations and private investors from the
	United States and European Union, which support Suu Kyi's call
	for greater democracy in the country, have withdrawn investments
	from the cash-strapped country.
    	The country's image received another blow in a U.N. rebuke
	of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
	for suppressing the opposition. Washington has threatened
	economic sanctions if the situation worsens.
    	The SLORC has told the United States and other Western
	powers critical of it to allow it to handle its domestic
	politics in its own way.
REUTER