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AFP-Myanmar media targets foreign d



Myanmar media targets foreign diplomats
Fri 28 Aug 98 - 12:25 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
(NLD)," it added, referring to the main opposition party led by Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

A separate newsletter from the junta's embassy in Canada distributed by
officials in Yangon also attacked foreign governments for attempting to
destabilise the country by supporting the NLD leader.

It said the junta was willing to tolerate Aung San Suu Kyi's "defiance and
political antics" only up to a "certain limit."

"But it has been made clear that anything beyond that limit will have to be
dealt with firmly," the embassy's letter said.

The newspaper commentary Friday 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 seen
as 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.