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SCMP: EU envoys meet Aung San Suu K
Subject: SCMP: EU envoys meet Aung San Suu Kyi on dialogue-boosting trip
South China Morning Post
Thursday, July 8, 1999
EU envoys meet Aung San Suu Kyi on dialogue-boosting trip
AGENCIES in Rangoon
EU envoys met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday on the second
day of a mission aimed at nurturing a human rights dialogue with the ruling
junta.
But a European Union envoy said that while promoting dialogue between the
junta and the opposition was important, the mission's focus was on reviving
ties between Rangoon and Brussels.
The EU team, led by Santi Fedorow of Finland, met Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and
other National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders, as well as
representatives of the country's ethnic minorities.
"The envoys inquired mainly about the prevailing conditions, the ongoing
National Convention [drafting a new constitution], the human rights
situation and affairs of the ethnic nationalities," said one minority
leader.
The EU mission met powerful intelligence chief and junta first secretary
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung on Tuesday.
The mission is deliberately being kept low-key after reports last year set
back a World Bank initiative to exchange financial aid for political
reform.
Finnish ambassador to Thailand Tauno Kaaria said on Tuesday the EU envoys
would try to re-establish a dialogue between the EU and the junta.
The mission would also suggest talks between the ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) and the NLD, which won 1990 elections by a
landslide but has been barred from forming a government, Mr Kaaria said.
"Of course we would like to encourage [such] talks, but the main goal of
this mission is to establish a dialogue between the SPDC and the EU . . .
that definitely would be a step forward," he said.
The EU imposed sanctions against Burma in 1996. Dialogue has been frozen
since. The junta's human rights record has also strained the EU's ties with
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Mr Kaaria said "human rights and democracy" were essential topics of
discussion in any future dialogue between the EU and the junta.
"It's obvious that things have to be resolved within the country and
dialogue between the main parties would be necessary," he said.
Another European diplomat in Bangkok said: "We want to continue the human
rights dialogue on a higher level than the embassies."
Burma's junta is repeatedly accused of perpetrating abuses including forced
labour and rape.
The junta had evicted villagers from their land and used them as forced
labour to build a road in Mandalay, the NLD said yesterday.
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