SCMP: Regime rejects mediation of '

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Subject: SCMP: Regime rejects mediation of 'domestic affairs'

South China Morning Post


Saturday, July 10, 1999

BURMA

Regime rejects mediation of 'domestic affairs'

REUTERS in Rangoon

The military regime had received no outside offers of mediation to resolve
the deadlock with the
pro-democracy opposition and would solve its problems on its own, Foreign
Minister Win Aung
said.

A European Union delegation that visited this week had made no such offer,
nor had former South
African president Nelson Mandela despite reports he would consider such a
role, Mr Win Aung
said.

"It would not be reasonable to [offer to mediate] because it is our
domestic affair," he said.

A South African diplomat last month said Mr Mandela would consider acting
as a mediator between
the military and the opposition, led by fellow Nobel peace laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi.

The diplomat said Mr Mandela was willing to consider the role if formally
asked by the opposition.

"No proposal from Mandela," Mr Win Aung said. "I think Mr Mandela can't
understand our politics.

"We don't mean that we have solved the problems. We are trying to solve the
problems by peaceful
means by ourselves."

Mr Win Aung said this week's visit by a mid-ranking EU delegation was
confined to fact-finding.
"Therefore, we told them what they wanted to know."

EU diplomats said the delegation went to Burma to look at establishing a
dialogue with the
Government in the interests of promoting human rights and a rapprochement
between the opposition
and military.

The EU also hopes to repair its relationship with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, which
was damaged by the association's admission of Burma in 1997.

Burma's harsh treatment of the opposition, including the arrest and
detention of hundreds of activists,
has led the EU to ban Burmese officials from its borders.

The ban forced the cancellation of a high-level meeting between the EU and
association earlier this
year.

The EU wants to see substantial progress on human rights before lifting the
ban.