SPDC steps up pressure on Suu Kyi o

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Subject: SPDC steps up pressure on Suu Kyi over husband

Myanmar-SuuKyi
   Myanmar junta steps up pressure on Suu Kyi over husband
   
   YANGON, March 20 (AFP) - Myanmar on Saturday urged democracy leader Aung 
San Suu Kyi to visit her cancer-stricken husband in Britain, saying its own 
medical facilities were too primitive for him to visit Yangon.
   Michael Aris, who is terminally ill, has asked for a visa to visit Myanmar 
to say a final goodbye to his wife before he dies.
   Aung San Suu Kyi, who is locked in a bitter political struggle with the 
government, fears she will be barred from returning home if she leaves the 
country to see him.
   A government statement issued here said officials were "sympathetic" to 
Aris' request, which was still under consideration.
   "Myanmar medical authorities are concerned, however, that Mr. Aris might 
not be able to receive proper medical care in Myanmar, and that he might put 
an undue burden on the country's limited medical resources.
   "Medical facilities in Myanmar for terminally ill cancer patients are very 
limited and such patients are usually sent from Myanmar to more developed 
countries for proper treatment," the statement added.
   "While Mr. Aris' visa application is currently under review, the
government 
suggests that it is more humane for a person in perfect health to make the 
journey to fulfil the terminally ill husband's wish to see her."
   Britain, the United States and Australia are among nations which have 
called on Myanmar to issue a visa to Aris on humanitarian grounds.
   Aris is seriously ill after prostate cancer spread to his spine and lungs, 
according to reports in Britain.
   Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) won a 
landslide victory in elections in 1990, but the government has refused to
hand 
over power and has conducted a long campaign against the party.
   Aris has made several visits to Myanmar since his wife, the daughter of 
independence hero Aung San, returned to the country in 1988 and emerged at
the 
head of the pro-democracy movement.
   He was last in the country between December 18, 1995 and January 16, 1996.
   Myanmar's official media, which vilifies Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace 
prize winner, as an agent of foreign powers, has issued repeated calls for
her 

expulsion.
   The government insists it is not its policy to force the NLD abroad but 
claims she is disqualified from high political office by her marriage to a 
foreigner.
   col/kf

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