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Burma Gov't Knocks Suu Kyi



Burma Gov't Knocks Suu Kyi 

Tuesday, July 1, 1997; 2:30 p.m. EDT 


RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Burma's military government accused pro-democracy 
leader Aung San Suu Kyi of being a puppet manipulated by Washington in a 
commentary published in state-run newspapers Tuesday. 

The article continued a war of words opened last week when Burma's 
military intelligence accused the United States of funding groups the 
regime claims are plotting terrorist attacks. 

Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent campaign for 
democracy, a year after her National League for Democracy overwhelmingly 
won parliamentary elections. The ruling military council never honored 
the result. 

Tuesday's commentary said Suu Kyi was a puppet of President Clinton, 
former Rep. Stephen Solarz of New York and former U.S. Ambassador Burton 
Levin. 

Suu Kyi ``has no prospects of becoming a leader'' of Burma, said the 
article, which called Suu Kyi's party ``a traitorous group'' that is 
``enslaved by the United States.'' 

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which voted to 
admit Burma despite a call by Suu Kyi to bar it from membership, 
received praise for giving Suu Kyi ``zero status.'' 

The military government freed Suu Kyi from six years of house arrest in 
1995. But for more than a year, her liberties have been cut back and 
hundreds of her supporters have been arrested. 

To protest the repression of Burma's pro-democracy movement, the Clinton 
administration imposed economic sanctions in April to prevent new 
investment in Burma by U.S. companies. 

On Friday, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the head of military intelligence, 
claimed Washington was funding democracy groups who were plotting to 
kill government leaders and bomb foreign embassies. 

Washington flatly denied the charge. 



© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press

"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."


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