(08/14/91)Prime Minister Dr. Win La

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Subject: (08/14/91)Prime Minister Dr. Win Lauds Nobel Award

                             Copyright 1991 U.P.I.

                       October  14, 1991, Monday, BC cycle



HEADLINE: Burmese government-in-exile head lauds Nobel award

DATELINE: NEW YORK

 BODY:
   Burma's prime minister in exile Monday praised awarding of the 1991 Noble
Peace Prize to Aung San Suu Kyi and expressed hope the spotlight on his nation
would highlight its troubles and force change for the better.

    ''We are very happy for her,'' said Prime Minister  Sein Win  of the
National Coalition Government of Burma at a news conference. 
    ''I hope the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize ... will focus attention on
Burma where currently millions of Burmese people trapped in the war zone are at 
high risk of being killed in (the junta's) military operations against
democratic forces,'' he said.

    Suu Kyi won a seat in Parliament in a May 1990 election rejected by the
State Law and Order Restoration Council, the military leadership.

    She has been under house arrest for two years for her political activities. 

    Win, the diminutive and bespectacled first cousin of Suu Kyi, said, ''She
will bring peace to Burma and finally stop the 40 year civil war,'' because of
the attention brought on the Southeast Asia nation.

    ''This will really press the military regime to do something,'' for the
people of Burma, he said.

    He said the situation in his country is getting worse every day with the
people eeking out a ''minimal'' existence, while the government is ''buying
arms.''

    Win never referred to his homeland as Myanamar, a name change put into
effect by the present military government.

    Asked if he thought his cousin would be freed, possibly even let out of the 
country to attend the Nobel award ceremony in Oslo Dec. 10, he expressed hope,
but with a catch.

    ''She is in danger,'' Win said, adding he believed the government may let
her free. ''No one can say what will really happen.''

    ''They can let her go and not come back,'' he said.

    He characterized Suu Kyi as a woman of ''very, very strong character. Maybe 
she is physically weak. But she is strong. She is also a woman of principle and 
she knows what kind of danger she is in. She is willing to sacrifice.''

    Win said his cousin even sacrificed her family life for her priniciples.

    Michael Aris, Su Kyi's husband, teaches at Harvard. She is the mother of two
children and takes care of a partially paralyzed mother, Win said of his cousin.
United Press International October 14, 1991, Monday, BC cycle         
                                                                                
    ''I think she will be very, very happy,'' he said of the award. ''She has
relied on the world community, and the United Nations for a long time. We were
happy (about the award) and we were waiting for a long time.''

    According to a statement from the Free Aung San Suu Kyi Campaign Committee
issued at the news conference, the elected members of parliament held secret
meetings in Rangoon, the capital, Sept. 15 and Mandalay Sept. 28.

    They gave a mandate to 30 selected members of parliament to leave Burma and 
''form a representative government.''

    Only 15 escaped, the statement said, and they formed the NCGUB, electing
Win.

    His mission was to ''tell the international community the truth about what's
going on inside Burma. ''