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The Nation -Burma embassy to have s



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: The Nation -Burma embassy to have separate consular section

The Nation - Oct 13, 1999.
Headlines
Burma embassy to have separate consular section

THE Burmese embassy in Bangkok could soon undergo remodelling to improve
security and prevent a repeat of the siege and hostage crisis when five
armed attackers stormed the building.

According to Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, Burma said it would separate
its consular section from the diplomatic mission.

Security would be tightened at the consular section where visa and other
public business is conducted. The diplomatic mission would be moved away
from the consular area, Surin said.

The decision to re-design the embassy comes less than two weeks after armed
Burmese democracy militants stormed the embassy, taking 38 people hostage at
gunpoint and preventing 51 others from leaving the embassy compound.

A deal was reached 25 hours later when Thai authorities agreed to give the
militants safe passage to the border in return for the release of the
hostages.

Surin said he had urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to speed up
the process of finding a third country to accept Burmese asylum seekers
living in Thailand.

''The incident [embassy siege] has highlighted the urgent need for the UNHCR
and other countries to assist the Burmese students on humanitarian
grounds,'' Surin said.

''It is not possible for Thailand to take care of the [dissident] Burmese
students forever. The students themselves should be given an opportunity to
have a good future,'' he added.

Surin said he had received positive responses from some countries countries
about the possibility finding new homes for Burmese students.

The student asylum seekers are just one part of the problem for Thailand and
the UNHCR. There are also about 100,000 displace Burmese along the
Thai-Burmese border housed in refugee camps.

Surin also said that Asean and the international community have expressed
their moral support for the difficulties that Thailand was facing with
Rangoon over the political fallout because of the embassy siege.

''At the moment, the international community has expressed their
understanding and asked us to be strong and to believe in what we do,''
Surin said.

''In the past two days, a number of top Asean officials have voiced their
support and told us that we're doing the right thing.''

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said there needed to be a
government-to-government mechanism in place to handle and resolve
disputes -- similar to the current fishing licence problem -- between
Thailand and Burma.

The Minister of Agriculture Pongpol Adireksarn will travel to Rangoon at the
end of the month to discuss the idea with his Burmese counterpart.

Pongpol said that in the past the ministry was often kept in the dark about
the agreements between the two countries made by private sector businesses.

A government-to-government contract would bind the central governments of
both sides to deals, he said.

Meanwhile, the European Union will extend its sanctions against Burma for a
further six months, citing the lack of progress in human rights and
democracy.

EU sanctions included a ban on visits by Burmese officials to EU countries,
withdrawal of trade privileges and an arms embargo.

The sanctions have stalled Asean-EU cooperation since Burma joined the
regional grouping three years ago.

Burma's director general for Political Affairs Department Nyunt Maung Shein
criticised the EU's decision, saying it was contrary to the principle of
cooperation.

Foreign Ministry's Permanent Secretary Saroj Chavanaviraj said Thailand had
proposed that Asean-EU meetings be held in Asean countries instead of Europe
to get around the visa ban.

The EU had yet to reply to the Thai proposal, he said.


The Nation