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Toronto Star Asian Bureau, March 5t



Subject: Toronto Star Asian Bureau, March 5th

Burmese tightening grip on Nobel laureate's democrats 

By Paul Watson - Toronto Star Asian Bureau 

RANGOON - Burma's military rulers are squeezing democrats harder and Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi says they are even killing her supporters in a
campaign to crush her party. They have all but thrown Suu Kyi back under
house arrest and she accused the ruling junta yesterday of arresting MPs and
forcing other members of the National League for Democracy to quit or close
offices.

``This has been going on for some time, but the situation has been getting
worse all the time,'' Suu Kyi told a small group of reporters gathered in a
cramped living room yesterday. Things couldn't be much better for the
commanders who control this impoverished country through the Supreme Law and
Order Council (SLORC). As the list of human rights violations grows, so does
the junta's strength in the face of foreign governments which do little more
than protest. 
Burma's army is also winning its war against the remnants of a northern
rebellion while doing little to stop the flood of heroin infecting Western
countries such as Canada. Yet the military regime has managed to talk
foreign governments out of imposing economic sanctions and a prestigious
regional bloc
is expected to welcome Burma into the fold this summer. Burma's people
wanted Suu Kyi to lead their country and gave her National League for
Democracy nearly 80 per cent of their votes in the May, 1990 election. But
the military simply ignored the results and kept Suu Kyi under house arrest
until July, 1995. Her freedom is still severely restricted and she has
accused the regime of trying to kill her.

Soldiers manning a roadblock on Suu Kyi's street prevent journalists, even
foreign diplomats, from visiting her. So she invited reporters to a home
nearby. ``According to what authorities told their last press conference,
this roadblock is for my security,'' said the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
``So I think journalists are considered dangerous people and they should not
let them near me.''
A group of plainclothes military intelligence officers kept a close watch on
reporters as they entered and left Suu Kyi's news conference and even
photographed them from two angles. The regime's tactics against members and
supporters of Suu Kyi's party are much more vicious, she said. The party
even keeps a chart to tally how many members have been killed, gone missing,
fled into exile or been forced to quit to save themselves and their
families. A couple of weeks ago, soldiers took several party members from a
local township and at least one of them, a deputy chairperson, was later
found dead at the roadside, Suu Kyi said. ``There were some injuries on his
body, but as he was interred very quickly, we have no way of finding out
exactly how he died,'' she told reporters. No one has heard from any of the
others, ``so I don't know whether they have been put in prison or taken as
porters to the (war) front,'' Suu Kyi said.

The army frequently rounds up civilians and forces them to work as human
mine detectors or carry ammunition and supplies in the war against ethnic
Karen guerrillas, she said. The man who died was a member of the minority
Karen, thousands of whom are trying to escape an army offensive against
Karen National Union guerrillas near the Thai border.

Suu Kyi insists she has no links with the guerrilla movement, but criticizes
the junta for trying to defeat the Karen on the battlefield. Authorities
have arrested others on trumped-up charges, such as operating an unlicensed
doctor's office or, in the case of another MP who is a physician, for
allowing a patient to die, she said. Police raided the house of a second MP
and arrested him for illegally hoarding foreign currency because they found
his child playing with two Singaporean coins, she added.

They have also torn down party signs in villages and forced local leaders to
close their offices, she added. ``The further away from Rangoon you get, the
worse it gets,'' Suu Kyi said. The military government isn't feeling much
heat from outside. It's on the verge of winning strong diplomatic support
from its neighbors who are expected to allow the country into the
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as early as July. Suu Kyi
said she would welcome sanctions to support the fight for democracy, but
insisted success depends on Burma's people. ``You mustn't think we depend on
foreign governments to bring democracy to Burma,'' she said. ``The most
important thing is for our people to work for democracy. ``But in this day
and age international support is important. The SLORC is part of Burma. If
they are more powerful, the people should be more powerful too.''
The party is still recruiting new members, said Suu Kyi, who didn't provide
any numbers when pressed.
``We are fighting fit,'' she added. ``In order to survive, we must be
fighting fit.''
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