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Diplomat's Comments Raise Fears For



Subject: Diplomat's Comments Raise Fears For Suu Kyi's Safety



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IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE....(II)
Comment By Burmese Diplomat Raises Concerns Over Suu Kyi's Safety

May 1, 1994

by Reg B. Strider

Bangkok--

The Burmese military attache in Bangkok, Lt. Col. Thein Swe has
reportedly told a western diplomat that Nobel Prize winning
dissident Aung San Suu Kyi would not outlive her house arrest.  The
diplomat did not wish to be identified.

According to the report, Lt. Col. Thein Swe was asked at a
diplomatic function when Aung San Suu Kyi would be released, to
which the colonel responded, "the bitch will die where she is." 
Whether the reported comment represents a threat or merely a
prediction of a long incarceration is not clear.

Despite his fairly junior rank, Lt. Col Thein Swe is rumored to be
the most powerful man at Rangoon's embassy in Thailand, which,
second only to Peking, is Burma's most important diplomatic
mission.  Thein Swe has been party to the ongoing negotiations
between the Burmese government and ethnic insurgents along the Thai
border.  According to one well-informed Burmese activist living in
Thailand, "Thein Swe is Khin Nyunt's man in Bangkok.  [Ambassador]
Phone Myiint is just a cipher."


*********************************
For the record:

Lt. Col. Thein Swe
Military Naval and Air Attache since Oct. 6, 1992
Office: 116 Sathorn Nua Road, Bangkok 10500
Tel: 662 234 4698
Home: 662 236 7648