OSI: Burma News Update No. 61

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Burma Project
Open Society Institute
> Burma News Update No. 61
> 10 July 1998
> 
> Junta Bars Suu Kyi Sortie
> Burma's military junta barred democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
> from
> traveling from Rangoon, accusing the opposition National League for
> Democracy
> (NLD) of provoking the regime to "violently react" by "trying to
> create a head-
> on collision and confrontation." Soldiers and police blocked a car
> carrying Daw
> Suu Kyi, NLD chairman Aung Shwe and aides some 50 miles from Rangoon
> on Tuesday
> as they sought to visit regional NLD officials. Following a tense
> night-long
> standoff, the group returned to Rangoon after they were allowed to
> meet a local
> NLD leader. U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin condemned the
> junta's
> action, saying, "The restrictions imposed on her are illegal under
> Burmese law,
> in our view, and in any case, are clearly infringements of the basic
> rights of
> freedom of movement." 
> (Rangoon, Agence France Presse, 8 July; Washington, Reuters, 7 July)
> 
> Burma "Fractures" ASEAN
> Burma's army junta lashed out at its partners in the Association of
> Southeast
> Asian Nations (ASEAN), and according to Agence France Presse,
> "fractured the
> fragile ASEAN grouping's unity" after Thai and Philippine officials
> warned that
> conflict in Burma could hurt the entire region. Raising fears of
> regional
> disruption that could hinder economic recovery in all of Southeast
> Asia and
> prompt unrest along its frontier with Burma, Thailand urged both
> Burma's
> military junta and democratic forces to excercise restraint.
> Philippine Foreign
> Secretary Domingo Siazon on 3 July urged all Burmese groups to begin
> "dialogue
> among themselves so that ASEAN as a whole would not in any way be
> further
> destabilized." The comments are a marked change from ASEAN members'
> 30-year
> policy of silence on each other's internal affairs. The Burmese junta
> said the
> statements could "adversely affect bilateral relations" and dismissed
> the
> concerns as "speculations based on unfounded premises."
> (Rangoon and Bangkok, Agence France Presse, 7, 8 July)
> 
> Malaysian MP Asks ASEAN Monitors
> Malaysian Member of Parliament and Secretary-General of the Democratic
> Action
> Party, Lim Kit Siang, urged ASEAN governments to warn Burma's military
> junta
> that it risks regional and international censure if it takes further
> action
> against pro-democracy activists or against the "liberty of security of
> Aung San
> Suu Kyi." The Malaysian opposition leader said the "ASEAN Secretariat
> should set
> up a ASEAN task force to monitor closely the deterioration of the
> political
> situation in Burma...."
> (DAP Media Release, Pataling Jaya, 8 July)
> 
> Shan State Killings
>    At least 103 villagers in Burma's northern Shan State, among them
> many women
> and children, were killed by troops of Burma's military junta in
> incidents
> between 4 May and 27 June, the Shan Human Rights Foundation reported.
> The
> killings are part of a Burmese army campaign of forced relocations
> aimed at
> depriving anti-junta rebel forces of grassroots support. More than
> 300,000
> villagers from nearly 1,500 villages are said to have been forcibly
> relocated in
> Shan State alone. 
> (Bangkok, Shan Human Rights Foundation, 3 July)
> 
> New Trade Controls
> Thai traders reported that Burmese border officials in mid-May imposed
> heavy new
> duties and restrictions on the export of Thai goods to Burma through
> the Mae
> Sai-Thachilek border on Thailand's northwestern frontier. Duties on
> many goods
> were raised to over 300%, the traders said, but added that higher
> bribes to
> local Burmese authorities would allow the new controls to be
> circumvented. 
> (Bangkok, Phuchatkan newspaper, 1 July [via BBC Monitoring Service])
> 
> Nigerian General in Burma
> A senior general of Nigeria's military regime was received by his
> Burmese
> counterparts upon arrival in Burma on 6 July. The official New Light
> of Myanmar
> reported that Nigerian Maj. Gen. J.L. Igoche of Nigeria's National War
> College
> and a delegation of other Nigerian military officers were welcomed at
> Rangoon's
> International Airport by Maj. Gen. San Aung, Commandant of Burma's
> National
> Defence College. The purpose and duration of the visit were not
> disclosed. [The
> death in detention this week of M.K.O. Abiola, apparent winner of
> Nigeria's 1993
> presidential contest, has sparked deadly rioting and fears of anarchy
> in
> Africa's most populous country -Ed.]
> (Rangoon, New Light of Myanmar [online version], 7 July)
> 
> 
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