Suu Kyi asks for Thai mercy

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

February 15, 1998


                                    



                         THAI-BURMESE BORDER

              Suu Kyi asks for
              Thai mercy

              Bangkok urged not to expel refugees

              Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called on
              foreign governments and humanitarian organisations to give
              priority to aiding refugees who have fled military oppression.

              Aung San Suu Kyi appealed in particular to neighbouring
              Thailand, which has recently threatened to expel all foreign
              workers in order to make room for jobless Thais.

              "We would like the Thai government to do what they can to
              alleviate the sufferings of our refugees. We are very distressed by
              their plight," she said.

              The statement comes in the wake of a bid by Thai authorities to
              shift more than 10,000 refugees who fled Burma's military regime
              to a new camp, which ran into trouble when the first batch of
              refugees refused to leave.

              The Nobel peace prize laureate asked governments to help
              ethnic refugees to make a new life in foreign countries, a
              statement from the Alternative Asean Network on Burma
              received here Saturday said.

              "I would like to appeal to NGOs to do what they can to help our
              Karen and other ethnic refugees who have had to leave their
              homes and try to scrape together a form of living in foreign
              lands," she said.

              "I would also like to appeal to all governments concerned to
              alleviate the suffering s of our refugees abroad," she added.

              The statement said Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the National
              League for Democracy in Burma, made her appeal in the run-up
              to celebrations of the country's 51st anniversary of national union
              on Thursday.

              The anniversary marks the day when General Aung San, father
              of the Nobel laureate and a leader in the country's struggle for
              independence from Britain, signed an agreement with Burma's
              ethnic minorities to work towards independence.

              Aung San Suu Kyi appealed in particular to neighbouring
              Thailand, which has recently threatened to expel all foreign
              workers in order to make room for jobless Thais.

              "We would like the Thai government to do what they can to
              alleviate the sufferings of our refugees. We are very distressed by
              their plight," she said.

              The statement comes in the wake of a bid by Thai authorities to
              shift more than 10,000 refugees who fled Burma's military regime
              to a new camp, which ran into trouble when the first batch of
              refugees refused to leave.

              More than 100 residents of the Mae Yae Hta camp in northwest
              Thailand staged a protest Thursday and Friday as the Thai
              military and provincial authorities attempted to load them and
              their possessions into lorries.

              Men in ski masks working with the authorities began ripping
              down some of the grass huts in a bid to move the camp residents
              after last-ditch negotiations between the two sides failed,
              witnesses said.

              According to exiled Burmese student leaders, the Thai army has
              said it will shift the inhabitants of four camps in the area and
              warned the refugees on Thursday that if they did not move they
              could face deportation back to Burma. - AFP




                                    




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