Albright, Others Discuss Cambodia &

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Albright, Others Discuss Cambodia

LAURA MYERS Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Amid signs of hope in Cambodia, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and other foreign ministers were meeting Tuesday to discuss ways to
promote democracy and end human rights abuses in that nation and in Myanmar.

Rival Cambodian parties held talks in Siem Reap earlier in the day and
reported progress in trying to end a post-election crisis.

Opponents of Cambodian leader Hun Sen, who ousted his royal rival in a coup
d'etat last year, are protesting what they call voter fraud and intimidation
in July parliamentary elections.

Prince Norodom Ranariddh, leader of the opposition FUNCINPEC party, said
that while problems remain, the opposition decided to attend parliament,
which opens Thursday, instead of boycotting as planned.

In New York, Albright and the other foreign ministers planned to discuss
ways to influence Hun Sen's government to allow a free political process.

The ministers, in Manhattan to attend the opening session of the U.N.
General Assembly, represented Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, South
Korea, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Britain, the United
States and the United Nations. Russia, France, Germany and the European
Union also were invited.

The human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday urged countries
concerned about Cambodia to try to influence leaders there to ease
repressive measures, including a ban on foreign travel by opposition
members.

The appeal came two weeks after Hun Sen's government ordered police to break
up street rallies protesting alleged ballot fraud, killing at least four
protesters.

In Myanmar, also known as Burma, military leaders have shown no signs of
bowing to international pressure to allow political freedoms.

The United States and world financial institutions have stopped economic
aid, but with little effect because the drug trade keeps Myanmar military
coffers full.

Opposition leader Aung Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won 82
percent of the parliament seats in a 1990 election, but the military, which
has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has refused to let the parliament meet.

Four times in the past few months, authorities have blocked Suu Kyi's way as
she has tried to travel to the countryside to meet her would-be members of
parliament. Over the years she has often been under house arrest.

On Monday, the military government arrested 29 more members of Suu Kyi's
party, bringing the number of activists arrested this year to 882, her party
said.

The ruling generals last month rejected a request from U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a special U.N. representative be allowed
to visit Myanmar.

Albright, among others, has sought Annan's intervention over the
government's treatment of Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.