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Reuters-U.N. emissary meets Suu Kyi



Subject: Reuters-U.N. emissary meets Suu Kyi after damning report

U.N. emissary meets Suu Kyi after damning report
07:52 a.m. Oct 29, 1998 Eastern

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - A top U.N. emissary trying to prod Myanmar's
ruling generals towards democracy met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on
Thursday, a day after the world body issued a damning report on the
government's rights record.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto met Nobel Peace laureate Suu
Kyi at her
Yangon residence in the afternoon, a meeting also attended by members of her
National League for Democracy's (NLD) Central Executive Committee.

It was their second meeting this week and was intended to brief Suu Kyi on
the U.N. envoy's meeting on Wednesday with Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt,
the intelligence chief considered the most powerful figure in the ruling
military council.

The NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990, but was not allowed to take
office. It says thegovernment has responded to its demands for a parliament
by detaining nearly 1,000 NLD members since May.

No details have been released on de Soto's talks since he arrived in Yangon
on Tuesday,
although the government said his meeting with Khin Nyunt had been
``constructive and fruitful.'' De Soto was to leave for Bangkok on Friday.
He has said results of his mission will be included in a report to the U.N.
General Assembly next week.

On Wednesday, a U.N. investigator released a report saying human rights
violations, ranging from torture and forced labour to the monitoring of
opposition parties, persist in Myanmar.

The situation had ``not evolved in any favourable way'' since an earlier
report on the matter in April, said Rajsoomer Lallah, a member of the U.N.
Human Rights Commission.

``Many reports indicate that in Myanmar political parties in opposition
continue to be subject to intense and constant monitoring by the regime,
aimed at restricting their activities and prohibiting members of political
parties from leaving their localities,'' he said.

Referring to Suu Kyi, Lallah said he was particularly concerned about ``the
inability of her party to organise normal political meetings and
functions.''

He said he remained ``deeply concerned about the continued harassment of
political leaders and the detention of many political prisoners.''

Lallah also said he has received ``reports indicating that torture and
ill-treatment, including
beatings in prisons and interrogation centres, continue to be a common
practice.''

Lallah said the violations, which included extrajudicial and arbitrary
executions, rape and forced labour, had been so numerous as to suggest they
were not isolated incidents but ``the result of policy at the highest level,
entailing political and legal responsibility.''

The government announced on Thursday that it had freed 15 more NLD members
after ``a
successful view exchange,'' bringing the total it says it has released in
recent days to 129.

The government announced on Wednesday that NLD member Aung Min, 52, died of
cancer last week while in custody. It said it regretted his death at a
military hospital.

Eight years ago, senior NLD member Maung Ko died in custody during a high
profile visit by the U.N.'s Sadako Ogata, now U.N. high commissioner for
refugees, to check on rights abuses.

The military said Maung Ko committed suicide, but relatives said bruises on
his body showed he had been tortured to death.

Myanmar's foreign minister Ohn Gyaw said last month the world had no right
to interfere in
Myanmar's internal affairs when the government had ``chosen the path of
democracy.''

This week, the European Union, voicing concern over Myanmar's failure to
promote democracy and human rights, extended sanctions adopted in 1996, but
did not ban new investment or bar firms from providing services to the
ruling council.