German parliament cancels Myanmar v

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Deutsche Presse-Agentur

April 24, 2001

German parliament cancels Myanmar visit over Suu Kyi access

DATELINE: Hanoi


A German parliamentary delegation visiting Southeast Asia said Tuesday it 
had scrapped plans to travel to Myanmar (Burma) on the trip because the 
military junta there denied the group access to opposition leader Aung San 
Su Kyi.

Delegation leader Adelheid D. Troscher, of the Social Democratic Party's 
group on economic cooperation and development, said the six Bundestag 
members were strongly rebuffed two weeks ago by the ruling State Peace and 
Development Council.

"They did not want us visiting opposition leaders. They said they would 
rather not want us at the moment," Troscher told Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
dpa after arriving in Hanoi for a four-day Vietnam
visit.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 election but the 
military voided the vote and arrested Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace 
Prize a year later.

The opposition leader was released in 1995 but has lived under virtual 
house arrest since, though she has been able to meet with several 
international groups over the years.

"I think it is shameful we were not allowed to meet with her," said 
Angelika Koster-Lossack of Alliance 90 - The Green Party, saying she had 
mistaken the junta's recent dialogue with Suu Kyi to be a possible
reversal of their "policy of isolation".

"But they flatly refused to allow us to see her. And so we decided amongst 
ourselves not to go to Myanmar to just see generals," Koster- Lossack said.

"We are disappointed because a dialogue needs to be established with the 
outside world," she added. "It was a chance missed."

The high-ranking, multi-party delegation consists of six members of the 
Bundestag's committee on development cooperation, which is touring the 
region to get a better understanding of Southeast Asia's sustainable 
management and development projects.

The sector is one of the most significant areas of German aid to Vietnam 
and Cambodia.

On Wednesday the delegation meets with several members of the government of 
communist-ruled Vietnam, which last weekend anointed a reform-leaning 
moderate, Nong Duc Manh, to be its new leader.



DATELINE: Hanoi


A German parliamentary delegation visiting Southeast Asia said Tuesday it 
had scrapped plans to travel to Myanmar (Burma) on the trip because the 
military junta there denied the group access to opposition leader Aung San 
Su Kyi.

Delegation leader Adelheid D. Troscher, of the Social Democratic Party's 
group on economic cooperation and development, said the six Bundestag 
members were strongly rebuffed two weeks ago by the ruling State Peace and 
Development Council.

"They did not want us visiting opposition leaders. They said they would 
rather not want us at the moment," Troscher told Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
dpa after arriving in Hanoi for a four-day Vietnam
visit.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 election but the 
military voided the vote and arrested Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace 
Prize a year later.

The opposition leader was released in 1995 but has lived under virtual 
house arrest since, though she has been able to meet with several 
international groups over the years.

"I think it is shameful we were not allowed to meet with her," said 
Angelika Koster-Lossack of Alliance 90 - The Green Party, saying she had 
mistaken the junta's recent dialogue with Suu Kyi to be a possible
reversal of their "policy of isolation".

"But they flatly refused to allow us to see her. And so we decided amongst 
ourselves not to go to Myanmar to just see generals," Koster- Lossack said.

"We are disappointed because a dialogue needs to be established with the 
outside world," she added. "It was a chance missed."

The high-ranking, multi-party delegation consists of six members of the 
Bundestag's committee on development cooperation, which is touring the 
region to get a better understanding of Southeast Asia's sustainable 
management and development projects.

The sector is one of the most significant areas of German aid to Vietnam 
and Cambodia.

On Wednesday the delegation meets with several members of the government of 
communist-ruled Vietnam, which last weekend anointed a reform-leaning 
moderate, Nong Duc Manh, to be its new leader.