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AFP-Myanmar junta says "valiant" ef



Subject: AFP-Myanmar junta says "valiant" efforts spurned by West

Japan-Myanmar,lead
   Myanmar junta says "valiant" efforts spurned by West
   ATTENTION - ADDS meeting with foreign minister ///

   TOKYO, June 3 (AFP) - Myanmar's ruling military junta Thursday attacked
Western countries for spurning its "valiant" efforts at economic recovery
for
their own political agendas.
   The country had to rely on itself to gain economic and investment growth,
visiting Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung told a conference in Tokyo on the
future of Asia.
   "This is because a few powerful countries for their domestic political
agenda denied Myanmar not only ODA (official development assistance) but
also
access to resources of the international financial organizations," he said.
   "This could be likened to the situation where someone who had the
misfortune to fall into a deep ravine, and who because of his valiant
efforts
was able to climb back to the level ground was not given a helping hand, but
even pushed back into the abyss."
   Japan suspended all but a small amount of humanitarian aid to the
military-run state in the late 1980s but agreed in February to help finance
reconstruction of the airport in Yangon, Myanmar's capital.
   The United States has imposed broad sanctions since the junta crushed a
pro-democracy movement and took power in 1988. In 1997, Washington banned
new
investment in the country.
   The Myanmar foreign minister said Southeast Asia's currency crisis was
responsible for a 53-percent drop in foreign direct investment commitments
in
the fiscal year to March 1998.
   Economic growth in the fiscal year to March this year was 5.6 percent,
compared to a target of 6.6 percent, he said, largely because of the Asian
financial crisis.
   Win Aung said the junta was forced to take power in September 1988
because
of civil unrest which led to "chaos and anarchy."
   The military was now trying to build a solid foundation for democracy, he
said. "We are trying to settle the situation."
   The UN Human Rights Commission in April condemned Myanmar for sweeping
human rights violations.
   A resolution contained a long list of abuses ranging from summary
executions, torture, and abuse of women to systematic programmes of forced
relocation and widespread use of forced labour.

   At a later meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, the
Myanmar minister said "the current military government is not thinking about
staying in power," according to a ministry official.
   Komura, however, asked Win Aung to show evidence of the move towards
democracy.
   "The role of the current military government is to build the foundation
for
democratic government," the Myanmar minister said, adding the government did
not consider opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi an enemy.
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