U.S. Says Nobel Winner Forced Home

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

ays Nobel Winner Forced Home

By TOM RAUM
 .c The Associated Press 

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright accused the
military regime in Myanmar of ending a six-day highway standoff with Democracy
activist Aung San Suu Kyi by forcing the Nobel Peace Prize winner home against
her will. 

``This is an unacceptable violation of human rights,'' Albright declared,
making the accusation after Myanmar's government announced that Suu Kyi had
returned to her home. 

The opposition party leader ``was all off a sudden taken in her car by a
military driver back to Yangon and thereby forbidden from exercising a basic
human right, which is the ability to travel freely in your own country,''
Albright said. 

She disputed accounts suggesting that Suu Kyi was talked into returning home
by members of her National League of Democracy party. 

``She did not want to go back. It was not a negotiated settlement,'' said a
senior American official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The official
said the information that Suu Kyi had been returned against her will was based
on State Department conversations with on-the-scene diplomats in Yangon. 

The official said that Suu Kyi had tried to call a news conference, but had
been prohibited from doing so. 

Albright said the move by the government ``will only contribute to the further
isolation of Burma.'' Burma is the former name of Myanmar. The U.S. government
continues to use the old name. 

Albright made the observations Thursday during a foreign policy speech on
U.S.-Australian-Asian relations. She arrived here Wednesday after visiting
Papua New Guinea to discuss damage from the July 17 tsunami - tidal wave -
that killed thousands. She toured the area by air and announced $650,000 in
new U.S. aid, bringing the total U.S. contribution to over $1 million. 

AP-NY-07-30-98 0020EDT 


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