Shan Leader Back from East Timor:

[shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

13 September 1999 

Shan Leader Back from East Timor 
A Shan leader from the Shan States Army arrived on Monday from his trip to
observe and support the East Timorese referendum which was held late last
month. 

Sao Ood Kesi, Chief Foreign Affairs Officer of the SSA, told S.H.A.N. he left
for Dili, East Timor, with Remon Htoo, General Secretary of the Karenni
National Progress Party, on 26 August and returned on 6 September, two days
earlier than scheduled, because of the increasing violence there. The trip was
organized by Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor (APCET). 

"It was really an honor for both of us to be there to witness the country's
most historic event", he said. 

The Shan States, Karenni and Mon of Burma are, together with East Timor,
members of the unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, known as the
Alternative UN, set up by the Dalai Lama of Tibet and the Baltic States before
the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

"I had the chance to be interviewed by the local television on 28 August. I
said I felt proud to be there, because one of our members, whose right of self
determination had been recognized, was able to exercise the right", he said. 

According to the 1947 Union Constitution, considered the most federal so far,
both Shan and Karenni enjoyed the right of secession. The constitution was
abolished by the Revolutionary Council, led by General Ne Win, the predecessor
to the present junta, in 1962. Both Shan and Karenni considered themselves
independent, sovereign states, as they were no longer bound by any legal
contract with Burma that had instead became a colonial power. 

"I'm worried, nevertheless, by the extent of violence there. A country that
professes democracy should bow to the will of the people. This could set as a
bad precedent for both the Shan States and Karenni", he added. 

In the meanwhile, a letter of congratulations by the Shan States Ambassador,
Sai Wansai, was conveyed to Jose Ramos-Horta, the East Timorese leading
activists and a Nobel Price recipient, for "their courageous deeds shown to the
world, in the face of Indonesian military and its militias' intimidation. 

/// END \\\ 
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