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 	Press Association Newsfile 
 
                            April  8, 1998, Wednesday 
 
SECTION: PARLIMENTARY NEWS 
 
HEADLINE: BRITAIN SEEKS RENEWAL OF SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMESE REGIME 
 
BYLINE:  Andrew Evans, Lords Staff, PA News 
 
    Britain tonight renewed its criticism of the "appalling" human rights
record
of the military regime in  Burma  and will be calling this month for UN 
endorsement of its condemnation.  Junior Foreign Office Minister Baroness
Symons
of Vernham Dean told peers at question time: "The Government are appalled by
the
plight of  Burma's  ethnic minorities. "We are introducing a resolution on 
 Burma  at the UN Commission on Human Rights later this month, which will 
highlight this important issue. The root of the problem remains the repressive
military regime in  Burma.   "We are using our EU Presidency to secure renewal
of EU punitive measures against the regime." Tory Baroness Cox, who visited
the 
area last week, welcomed the minister's "robust" response, which she said
would 
"give comfort to many of those suffering at the hands of the brutal regime".
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Agence France Presse 
 
                            April  09, 1998 16:24 GMT 
 
SECTION: International news 
 
HEADLINE:  Myanmar  opposition leaders calls UN to pressure Yangon 
 
DATELINE: GENEVA, April 9 
 
    Myanmar  opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi,
asked
the United Nations to increase pressure on the military junta in Yangon, in a 
video cassette sent to the UN rights commission here. 
 
   The human rights situation has "got even worse," she said, adding that some
100 people had been arrested by the authorities in the first two months of the
year. 
   "I think that the numbers of those arrested must be very close to one
hundred
if not more since the beginning of 1998, and we are at the beginning of
March," 
she told the commission in a tape smuggled out of the country and shown to the
commission Thursday. 
 
   In her message, Aung San Suu Kyi urged the United Nations to implement its 
resolutions on the democratisation process in  Myanmar.  
 
   "It is time that the international community took a greater interest in 
getting the terms of the resolutions implemented," she said. 
 
   The National League for Democracy party (NLD) under Aung San Suu Kyi, one
of 
nine officially sanctioned opposition parties, won national elections here in
a 
landslide victory in 1990, but was subsequently denied power by the military. 
 
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	Agence France Presse 
                            April  09, 1998 10:51 GMT 
 HEADLINE:  Myanmar  opposition slams junta for rejecting Richardson 
 
DATELINE: BANGKOK, April 9 

    Myanmar (Burma)  opposition forces on Friday slammed the military 
government's rejection of a proposed visit to the isolated country by US 
ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson. 
 
   But the spokesman for the exiled National Coalition Government for the
Union 
of  Burma  (NCGUB) said the decision was to be expected and reflected the 
junta's unwillingness to accept international criticism. 
 
   "The SPDC never respect or accept international opinion and comment. They
do 
not accept opposite views, so I'm not surprised a visit by the ambassador was 
turned down," the Bangkok-based spokesman for the government-in-exile said. 
 
   He said authorities would rather not have a visitor who would likely insist
on meeting opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other 
political figures. 
 
   "They are afraid the ambassador will meet Aung San Suu Kyi and political 
leaders and dissidents, so they refused him to come. They will be worried
about 
showing the outside what is happening in  Burma, " he said. 
 
   Washington was told Thursday that Richardson would not be allowed to visit 
 Myanmar  on an upcoming swing through South Asia as its officials are
currently
barred from travelling to the United States. 
 
   The NCGUB is made up of many members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League 
for Democracy party which won  Myanmar's  last elections in 1990 by a
landlslide
only to see the result ignored by the junta. 

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AP Worldstream 
 
                  April  09, 1998; Thursday 11:58 Eastern Time 
 
HEADLINE: Thai elephant injured in pit dug for gas pipeline from  Myanmar  
 
DATELINE: BANGKOK, Thailand 
 
    A young elephant was injured in Western Thailand when it fell into a pit
dug
for a gas pipeline project from  Myanmar.  
 
   Villagers heard the elephant roaring in pain from injuries to its front and
hind legs, but were unable to rescue the animal because entry to the area was 
barred by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, The Bangkok Post reported 
Thursday. 
 
   The villagers, who live near the city of Kanchanaburi, 110 kilometers (68 
miles) west of Bangkok, said the elephant struggled for three hours before 
finally climbing out of the pit and limping back into the jungle. 
 
   Environmentalists and human rights activists have staged protests against
the
dlrs 1.2 billion pipeline, scheduled to begin carrying gas from  Myanmar  to 
Thailand in July 1998. 
 
   The project is a joint venture between Total of France, Unocal of the
United 
State,  Myanmar's  military government and the Petroleum Authority of
Thailand. 
 
   Protesters say it will destroy virgin rain forest and deprive elephants and
other wildlife, already under threat from deforestation, of their habitat. 
 
   They also have said that forced labor has been used in  Myanmar  to build
the
pipeline, although the oil companies involved have 
 
   enied the charge. 

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                            Japan Economic Newswire 
 
                             APRIL  10, 1998, FRIDAY 
 
HEADLINE:  Myanmar  bans many imports, magazine says 
 
DATELINE: YANGON, April 10 Kyodo 
 
   The  Myanmar  government has banned imports of alcohol, beer, cigarettes, 
soft drinks, biscuits, canned meats and fruits, seasoning powder and dried 
noodles, according to the current issue of a  Myanmar  business journal
quoting 
recent government documents. 
 
   The journal, The Market, said the ban last month was part of a government 
drive to 'encourage local products.' 
 
   All the banned items are produced in  Myanmar,  mostly by joint-ventures 
between foreign companies and the government or private organizations. 
   The same government documents also showed exports of some agricultural 
products have also been banned.  The products include rice, sugar, ground nuts
and ground nut oil, the magazine added. 


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Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
 
                      April  8, 1998, Wednesday, BC Cycle  
                          04:15 Central European Time 
 
SECTION: Financial Pages 
 
HEADLINE:  Myanmar  to allow private ownership of cinemas 
 
DATELINE: Yangon 
 
     Myanmar's  ruling military junta has announced plans to privatize the 
country's 29 cinemas, which were nationalized three and a half decades ago by 
the previous socialist regime, news reports said Wednesday. 
 
    Local entrepreneurs who wish to lease the cinemas were given until April
30 
to contact the  Myanmar (Burma)  Motion Picture Enterprise - the state 
enterprise that currently runs the country's ancient movie houses. 

    Other privatization options include a total purchase or entering a joint 
venture with the government to run the cinemas, said the New Light of  Myanmar
newspaper. 
 
     Myanmar,  a country with a population of 46.7 million, has only 29
cinemas 
nationwide, with 10 in the capital Yangon (formerly Rangoon), and four in 
Mandalay. 
 
    All cinemas were nationalized shortly after General Ne Win's military coup
in 1962 that ushered in 26 years of the disastrous "Burmese Way to Socialism".
 
    Socialism was officially dropped in 1988, although the country's military 
regime has since kept a tight grip on most aspects of the economy. dpa aso pj
jh
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Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
 
                       April  9, 1998, Thursday, BC Cycle  
                          03:59 Central European Time 
 HEADLINE:  Myanmar  launches first promotional CD 
 
DATELINE: Yangon 
 
     The military regime in  Myanmar (Burma)  has launched the country's first
locally-made promotional compact disc (CD) in an effort to counter the 
"concocted news reports" of "neo-colonialist" news agencies, reports said 
Thursday. 
 
    The CD, labelled " Myanmar  - Another Incarnation," was officially
launched 
Wednesday at the International Business Centre in Yangon (Rangoon), local 

newspapers reported. 
 
    State Peace and Development Council First Secretary Lieutenant General
Khin 
Nyunt, presiding over the CD launch, praised Burmese young people who
developed 
the CD locally. 
 
    "This is an accomplishment to make  Myanmar (Burma)  extensively known to 
the world," said Khin Nyunt. 
 
    He added that "some news agencies of neo-colonialists have blacked out all
good and nation-building news about the government and instead are
highlighting 
false and concocted news reports about  Myanmar  with pessimistic views." 
 
     Myanmar  has been ruled by a military junta since September 1988 despite 
the electoral win of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) at the
1990 general election. dpa aso pj bo