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Myanmar Pledges Quick Action on Act



Myanmar Pledges Quick Action on Activists Manila

            Reuters
            10-AUG-98

            MANILA, Aug 10 (Reuters)- Myanmar's military government has
            promised to deal expeditiously with the cases of two
Filipinos it is
            holding along with 16 other foreign pro-democracy activists,
            Philippines Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said on Monday.
Khin
            Nyunt, powerful Secretary One of the ruling State Peace and
            Development Council, made the pledge to the Philippines
            ambassador to Myanmar, Sonia Brady, Siazon told reporters in
            Manila. 

            Brady, in a report to Manila, said Myanmar authorities told
diplomats
            they had not yet decided on what legal action to take
against the
            activists, Philippines Foreign Office officials said. 

            The Myanmar authorities had said the activists were only
invited for
            questioning and had not been arrested or charged, the
officials quoted
            Brady's report as saying. 

            The 18 foreign activists were detained on Sunday after they
organised
            a mass leaflet of the capital, Yangon, to mark the 10th
anniversary of a
            military crackdown on pro-democracy protests. 

            Opposition supporters say thousands of people died in the
1988
            unrest. The military puts the death toll at a few dozen. 

            in Yangon, a government spokesman on Monday said the foreign
            activists had been attempting to incite unrest and accused
them of
            breaking at least two laws by distributing the leaflets. 

            The activists are being kept in a guest house and at the
police
            headquarters in Yangon, according to Brady's report. 

            Myanmar police said the detained foreigners comprised six
            Americans, an Australian, three Thais, three Malaysians and
three
            Indonesians and the two Filipinos.