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Burma's Suu Kyi urges international
- Subject: Burma's Suu Kyi urges international
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 16:13:00
Subject: Burma's Suu Kyi urges international action to protect her party
Burma's Suu Kyi urges international action to protect
her party
April 8, 1997
2.09 p.m. EDT (1809 GMT)
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Appealing for international help, Burmese
democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in a smuggled videotape shown Tuesday
that members
of her political party are facing increasing persecution.
"We need maximum attention on what is happening'' to the National
League for
Democracy, Suu Kyi said, "because it is an indication of how far the
authorities are
prepared to go to prevent democracy from taking root in Burma.''
Since May 1996, Burma's military government has staged a series of
increasingly
harsh crackdowns on Suu Kyi's party, arresting hundreds and sentencing
many to
long prison terms.
She said several party members have been forced to resign under
threats from the
government and other have been rounded up by the army and used to carry
equipment in battle zones.
The tape, seen in Bangkok, was also shown in Geneva during a break in
the annual
meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
"I put the political rights of the National League for Democracy and
others working
for democracy in Burma as the most important item on the agenda of the
Human
Rights Commission,'' the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
Burma's military regime has denied a U.N. human rights investigator
access to the
country. Messages from Suu Kyi have become increasingly rare. Her
movements
have been severely restricted since late last year.
The tape was made before a parcel bomb exploded Sunday night at the
home of Lt.
Gen. Tin Oo, one of the most powerful generals of the ruling State Law
and Order
Restoration Council. The general's eldest daughter was killed, but he
escaped injury.
The bombing has raised speculation of a power struggle in the ruling
junta, though
no firm evidence has emerged.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, but Burmese
authorities said
Tuesday that the bomb was airmailed from Japan, and they suspected
anti-government groups.
A government statement said investigators had found "reasons to
believe that the
bomb plot was masterminded by some anti-(Burmese) government groups within
Japan.''
Rebel groups have denied responsibility. Leaders of Suu Kyi's
pro-democracy
movement have called the attack "cowardly.''
In Tokyo, a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on customary condition of
anonymity said the ministry was waiting for more information before
deciding
whether to ask police to investigate.
In the videotape, Suu Kyi said her party's rights were of paramount
importance
because all other democratic political parties operating on a national
level in Burma
had been crushed.
The League for Democracy won 82 percent of the vote in a 1990 national
election
that the military refused to honor.
A U.N. General Assembly resolution that year called on Burma's
authorities to
respect the election results and institute democracy. Suu Kyi urged
the United
Nations to see that the resolution was implemented.
Suu Kyi also urged the Thai government to stop forcing Karen refugees
back to
Burma and to allow the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to help them.
More than 15,000 Karens have fled a recent Burmese army offensive,
joining an
estimated 70,000 refugees from Burma already living in Thailand. The Thai
government has refused the UNHCR access to the camps, and has denied
forcing
anyone back.
The refugees, Thai village militiamen and some Thai soldiers have told The
Associated Press that refugees have been forced back.