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The World Denounces the Burmese Reg



NOTE: It is evident that the regime will kick and cry and scream and do
what ever it has to keep its childish grip on power. The SPDC/ Tamadaw
is a selfish child thinking only for itself. It has no honour or
integrity to tell the whole truth.


US deplores arrests in Myanmar

Tue 08 Sep 98 - 18:51 GMT 
WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (AFP) - The United States strongly condemned Tuesday
the arrest of 110 more opposition figures in Myanmar, saying the
detentions would only worsen a simmering political crisis there.
State Department spokesman James Rubin said Washington had protested
through its embassy the arrest of another 110 people, in addition to 110
detained since the weekend, and urged the ruling junta to free them.
US officials are urging the ruling State Peace and Development Council
"to release these individuals immediately and to take action to solve
the nation's serious political problems through serious, substantive
negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi and her party," Rubin said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, leads the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD), which won 1990 elections but has
been barred by the junta from convening a parliament.
"The United States deplores in the strongest of terms the September 6
detention of well over 100 opposition figures, both electedmembers of
Parliament and party rank and file," said Rubin.
"Resolution of the political impasse in Burma will require real
substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition, including Aung
San Suu Kyi and representatives of the ethnic groups," he said.
"Arbitrary detentions are unjustifiable and will only worsen rather than
solve the political crisis," Rubin said.
Earlier Tuesday, Human Rights Watch voiced grave concern at the arrests
in Myanmar, in what analysts saw as a bid by the junta to prevent the
opposition from unilaterally convening a parliament.
The New York-based group urged foreign ministers from Japan, Europe, and
Southeast Asia, set to meet in New York September
23-24, to condemn the arrests. It called on those governments to urge
"all appropriate measures to allow all citizens to participate freely in
the political process ...
and to permit them to participate in a meaningful process of national
reconciliation."
In the Myanmar capital, Yangon, NLD members said the military government
had arrested 110 more of its members, bringing the
total number of arrests since the weekend to 220.
The arrests appeared to constitute a pre-emptive strike after the NLD's
announcement that it intends unilaterally to convene the
parliament elected in 1990 by the end of this month.
The junta said in a statement the party members had merely been invited
for a political discussion.
But the US embassy in Yangon said military officials had admitted that
the activists were being detained to thwart the convening of
parliament.
US charge d'affaires Kent Wiedemann held high-level talks with military
officials on Monday to demand the detainees be freed, an embassy
spokesperson said.
Frustrated at the political impasse in Yangon, formerly Burma, the US
Senate last week voted to earmark 10 million dollars in funding next
year to promote democracy there and aid its displaced nationals.
At least two million dollars may be released only after written
consultation with NLD leaders elected in 1990. The legislation must now
pass the lower House before it becomes law.
_____________________________________________________-
 London "wholly condemns" Myanmar opposition arrests

Wed 09 Sep 98 - 14:23 GMT 
LONDON, Sept 9 (AFP) - The British government on Wednesday said it
"wholly condemns" the latest arrests of opposition activists
in Myanmar.
In a statement issued in London, Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett
said: "As a result of the deteriorating situation in Burma, we are
looking at further measures to bring about substantive dialogue with the
opposition."
He added the government was also considering how to persuade the Myanmar
military junta to "respect the results of the 1990 elections." 
Measures being considered by London and its European Union partners
included an EU troika ministerial visit to Yangon to meet
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD), said Fatchett.  In addition, London urged its EU partners to
adopt its positions of discouraging tourism, trade or investment in
Myanmar. On Wednesday the NLD said the military government had arrested
108 more of its members, bringing the number detained since  Sunday to
328, and since May to 521.
In 1990, the NLD and other opposition parties won in a landslide
election but the military refused to hand over power and has since
rejected repeated demands that the 1990 parliament be convened.
Observers in Yangon said the arrests appeared to be a pre-emptive strike
following the NLD's announcement that it intends unilaterally to convene
by the end of September the parliament elected in 1990.
__________________________________________________
 Japan urges Myanmar to free opposition members

Wed 09 Sep 98 - 12:16 GMT 
TOKYO, Sept 9 (AFP) - Japan urged Myanmar's ruling junta Wednesday to
immediately free parliamentarians and other opposition  members it has
detained since the weekend.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka told a news conference that the
Japanese embassy in Yangon had conveyed the demand to the Myanmar
government.
"Japan will continue patient efforts to press for an improvement of the
human rights situation to help promote democratisation (in Myanmar),"
Nonaka said.
Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, says that the military government has
arrested 220 of its members since the weekend.
The arrests are being seen as a bid to stop the party convening a
session of parliament.
The NLD won 392 out of 485 seats in parliament in the 1990 general
election but the junta ignored the result. Only 225 of the 485 elected
remain active in politics, 166 of whom are NLD members.
Myanmar's state-run media on Wednesday accused the NLD of supporting
"terrorists" and hiding weapons and ammunition.  A commentary in the
official New Light of Myanmar said such activities called into question
whether the NLD was a legitimate political party.
Japan, formerly the biggest aid donor to Myanmar, joined Western nations
in freezing official lending to Yangon in 1988 after a military
crackdown on the pro-democracy movement there.
But Tokyo is reportedly looking at resuming official aid to Myanmar for
humanitarian projects, in what it calls a dual approach of
lobbying the Myanmar regime to improve its human rights record while
seeking to boost people's living conditions.