Myanmar Under Fire as ASEAN,

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar under fire as ASEAN, partners' meet ends

 .c Kyodo News Service    

MANILA, July 29 (Kyodo) - By: Susanne Ganz The Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and its trade partners ended an annual meeting Wednesday with
Western ministers blasting Myanmar's ruling junta for refusing to grant their
ambassadors access to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

''The response is not satisfying and we hope that the foreign minister of
Myanmar...can make it possible to de-block this unbearable situation,''
Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, who heads the European Union
(EU) delegation, told a joint news conference with his Asian and North
American colleagues. 

Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), a party colleague,
and her driver have been sitting in her car on a bridge in the countryside
since last Friday morning when police barred her from continuing a journey to
Pathein, 200 kilometers to the west of Yangon. 

Some diplomatic mission heads and foreign correspondents in Yangon were taken
Sunday to the spot some 32 km outside the city where the NLD car is halted,
but were not permitted to get out of their cars and speak with her. 

In a meeting Wednesday with Myanmar Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, ministers from
the EU, Japan, the United States and other developed nations expressed their
concern over the prolonged standoff and requested that two Western ambassadors
be allowed to speak with Suu Kyi. 

Ohn Gyaw confirmed at the news conference that the military government had
turned down the request. 

''At this juncture the meeting of the Japanese ambassador and U.S. charge
d'affaires with Aung San Suu Kyi is not urgently needed,'' Ohn Gyaw said in
quoting a message from the junta. 

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer voiced disappointment at the
refusal and said Australia would continue to press for such a meeting. 

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who did not attend the news
conference, expressed concern over the health of Suu Kyi on Wednesday. 

Ohn Gyaw, who was grilled by reporters over the junta's treatment of Suu Kyi
after evading the press throughout the meeting, insisted that the military has
its own ways to resolve the standoff. 

He said Suu Kyi has been barred from leaving the city boundaries ''for her own
protection.'' 

Ohn Gyaw reiterated the junta's allegations that the pro-democracy leader
planned her trip to coincide with the string of ASEAN conferences in Manila to
put pressure on the junta. 

The NLD won Myanmar's general election in 1990 in a landslide, but the junta
has refused to recognize the results and hand over power. 

Following the news conference, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul
voiced frustration at the reluctance within ASEAN to exert more pressure to
bring about democratic change in Myanmar. 

''We can see how the Burma (Myanmar) issue has come to dominate ASEAN
meetings. This diverts attention from other more pressing issues. It affects
the image of ASEAN as a whole,'' he said. 

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, however, insisted that ASEAN stay out
of the debate. ''If you start telling another country that 'this is how you
should run your country,' that's intervention,'' he said. 

Other issues that were discussed at the string of meetings this year included
the recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, Sunday's general election in
Cambodia and the regional economic and financial crisis. 

In his closing remarks, Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said the
participants agreed to put in place programs designed to assist crisis-
battered countries cushion the social impact of the region's economic malaise.

ASEAN groups Bruei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The dialogue partners are Australia, Canada,
China, the 15-member EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and
the U.S.