(08/10/91)Dr. Sein Win Seeks Help F

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Subject: (08/10/91)Dr. Sein Win Seeks Help From U.S.

                              The Washington Times

                   October  10, 1991, Thursday, Final Edition



HEADLINE: Opposition leaders seek help from U.S.

BYLINE: THE WASHINGTON TIMES

 BODY:
    Burma's opposition leaders, denied the legislative seats they won 17 months 
ago, are visiting New York and Washington to urge stricter sanctions against the
military government in Rangoon.

    USein Win, prime minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union 
of Burma, said he and other elected officials are targeting the U.N.  General
Assembly and U.S.  lawmakers. The Washington Times, October 10, 1991

                                                                                
    "We're still hoping the U.S.  can be the champion of democracy and freedom
in Burma, the way it was involved with Iraq and Kuwait," Mr.   Sein Win  said in
an interview yesterday.  "We hope and expect the U.S.  won't sit back."

    The U.S.  Embassy in Rangoon was the symbol around which pro-democracy
students and workers rallied in demonstrations in September 1988. A military
government allowed elections in May 1990 but then refused to allow the
pro-democracy forces, which won in a landslide, to take power.

    Opposition leaders in the Southeast Asian nation of 32 million are lobbying 
for tough economic sanctions to pressure the cash-starved military junta.  The
United States and many other Western nations drastically slashed aid after the
September 1988 protests.

    "Everybody says they've stopped aid except for ongoing projects," said Harn 
Yawnghwe, editor of the Quebec-based report, Burma Alert.  "But those projects
represent hundreds of millions of dollars."

    Many Burmese are upset that American, Japanese and Korean companies and
firms from other countries continue to do business with Burma.  They are urging 
boycotts against PepisCo and others. The Washington Times, October 10, 1991

                                                                                
    The military government has sold off lucrative timber and fishing rights to 
neighboring Thailand and is receiving arms and munitions from China, its
neighbor to the north.

    Burma's opposition has its headquarters in Manerplaw, a town near the
country's border with Thailand.