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Media Statement on Mandela's Mediat



Subject: Media Statement on Mandela's Mediation in Burma

Media Statement on Mandela's Mediation in Burma
16 June 1999

The deafening silence from the South African government on the crisis in
Burma has finally been broken.  We are cautiously optimistic that our
esteemed father and outgoing president, Nelson Mandela will consider 
lending his support to international efforts aimed at the restoration of
democracy in Burma.  The Reuters report emananting from the South
African Embassy in Bangkok will do much to raise the morale of Nobel
Peace Laureate , Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.  The
National League for Democracy (NLD) which is led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
has faced increased repression in recent months at the hands of the
military.  The students and refugees of the 1988 uprising who live a
precarious existence on the Thai-Burma border can breathe a sigh of
relief that South Africa has at last began to notice its plight.  We in
the Free Burma Campaign believe that as recently liberated South
Africans, we have a moral obligation to campaign for the liberation of
oppressed people around the world.  International solidarity was one of
the critical factors in our liberation from dictatorship.  We cannot
stand by the sidelines while 40 million people in Burma live in fear and
abject poverty because the military chooses to ignore the will of the
people.  General Khin Nyunt and his delegation should not have been
invited to South Africa unless it was to talk about the restoration of
democracy.  Their being at the inauguration is pretense that all is well
in Burma.  We urge the South African government to communicate its
concerns to the generals.  We congratulate President Mbeki on his
inauguration and urge his support for democracy in Burma.  Activists
from the Free Burma Campaign are in Pretoria at the President's
Inauguration appealing for his support. (Contact Dr Thein Win on
0828225693 / +27 82 822 56 93) 

Issued by Kiru Naidoo  Free Burma Campaign (South Africa)

Kiru Naidoo
Free Burma Campaign (South Africa)
P.O. Box 138 
Pavilion  3611 
Tel:  0825655286  /  +27 82 56 55 286
Email:  kiru@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Info:  http://FreeBurma.com