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Myanmar Media Strikes Out Foreign D



Myanmar media strikes out at foreign diplomats
Fri 28 Aug 98 - 09:14 GMT
YANGON, Aug 28 (AFP) - Myanmar's state-run media on Friday lashed out at
foreign
diplomats here, accusing them of inciting unrest and lending support to
opposition parties.
"The code of conduct does not state that diplomats should make contacts with
or give support
to organisations opposing, criticising and attacking the government," a
commentary in the New
Light of Myanmar said.
"Some embassies are one sidedly favouring the National League for Democracy,"
it added,
referring to the main opposition party led by Nobel peace prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi.
The commentary urged diplomats to cease meddling in the military state's
internal affairs, saying
the junta's own foreign envoys set a good example for them to follow.
"They always stay away from places where people of (the) host nation are
starting to gather for
some political reason," the column, generally regarded to be officially
inspired, said.
"They never mingle with such crowds or gather information or instigate them,"
it added.
On Monday police dispersed student demonstrators in the first street protests
in Yangon for
almost two years. Some protesters and bystanders were detained but no injuries
were
reported.
The United States has stepped up efforts to highlight human rights abuses in
Myanmar, with US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright calling regional leaders to express
concern about Aung
San Suu Kyi.
Albright telephoned the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines
and Thailand over
the weekend to discuss the situation in Myanmar, where Aung San Suu Kyi has
been barred
from travelling outside the capital.
A Thai spokesman Thursday said Albright had spoken with Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan
and urged Association of Southeast Asian Nationsmembers to pressure the junta
into talks with
the opposition.
A frail Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Yangon on Monday after a 13-day standoff
outside the
capital with security forces who prevented her from meeting supporters.
US embassy officials in Yangon plan to visit the Nobel peace prize winner "as
soon as her
health permits," a US spokesman said earlier.
The Myanmar opposition has demanded military authorities convene parliament in
accordance
with 1990 elections which they won by a landslide. The junta has refused to
allow them to form
a government.