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Compare and contrast: news from Jap



Subject: Compare and contrast: news from Japan and Australia

	Japan to extend 4 bil. yen debt-relief grant to Myanmar+
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	TOKYO, March 3 Kyodo - Japan will provide Myanmar with 4 billion
	yen in a debt-relief grant to help ease the country's debt burden
	arising from repayment of yen loans, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.
     
	The two countries exchanged notes in Yangon earlier in the day
	on the grant to be given as a portion for the April-September first
	half of fiscal 1996, which ends March 31, the ministry said.
     	Since Myanmar was declared a least-developed developing country
	(LDDC) in 1987, Japan has extended debt-relief grants to cover
	interest payments and repayments of part of the principal with the
	intention of producing an effect equivalent to canceling its debts.
     	Myanmar owed Japan more than 400 billion yen when Japanese loans
	were stopped in 1988 following the military takeover of the
	government.
***	This is the 17th debt-relief grant extended to Myanmar by the
	Japanese government.  The last similar grant of 4 billion yen was
	extended last November.
	==Kyodo
	KWS-13:52-03-03-97

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	***Australia condemns Rangoon over "brutal" Karen war***
	   ==================================================

    	CANBERRA, March 3 (Reuter) - Australia on Monday condemned
	the Burmese military regime's "brutal war" against minority
	ethnic Karens and urged Thailand to continue protecting the
	thousands of refugees who have fled across the border.
    
	"The government condemns the Burmese government's brutal war
	against the Karen people living near the border with Thailand,"
	Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told parliament.
    	Australia, through its embassy in Rangoon, had repeated its
	call for the Burmese military to immediately withdraw and to
	seek peace with the Karen through negotiations.
    	"Our embassy in Rangoon has conveyed my call on the Burmese
	government to withdraw its forces immediately and seek to
	resolve its differences with the Karen through negotiation and
	dialogue," Downer told parliament.
    
	The latest offensive by Burmese troops against the Karen
	National Union rebels, fighting for greater autonomy, forced
	thousands of Karen civilians to flee into Thailand last month.
    	Three Karen refugee camps in Thailand were recently
	attacked, leaving an estimated 10,000 people homeless, Downer
	said.
    	The U.S. State Department and human rights groups have
	accused Thailand of forcibly repatriating refugees. Thailand has
	denied the allegations.
    	
	Downer said Australia's embassy in Bangkok had been assured
	it was not Thai policy to forcibly repatriate civilians, but he
	had sought clarification.
    	He also said he raised the issue with Thai Foreign Minister
	Prachuab Chiayasarn during talks in Canberra last week.
    	"He assured me that Thai authorities are taking steps to
	improve the safety of the refugees, such as moving them away
	from the border area," Downer said.
    	"I urge the Thai authorities to continue their policy of
	providing security to refugees escaping conflict."
0437 030397 GMT