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AFP: TALKS IN BURMA STALLED/ THREAT



Received: (from strider) by igc2.igc.apc.org (8.6.9/Revision: 1.5 ) id UAA21071; Wed, 25 Jan 1995 20:30:00 -0800
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 20:30:00 -0800
Subject: AFP: TALKS IN BURMA STALLED/ THREAT TO FREE SPEECH

January 24, 1995
Burma junta, dissident talks seem stalled; analysts
Michele Cooper

RANGOON, Jan 24
Talks between Burma's military rulers and leading opposition figure Aung San
Suu Kyi appear to have stalled, with no real progress towards meaningful
dialogue, analysts said Tuesday.

In a statement released Monday by her husband on his arrival in Bangkok from
Rangoon, Aung San Suu Kyi indicated she would not agree to talks in isolation
but that substantive negotiations must include other pro-democracy leaders as
well.

The junta has so far given no sign it was ready to talk to any other political
opponent -- whether jailed, in exile or at liberty -- but, under international
pressure, had trumpeted the meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now in her
sixth year of house arrest.

Her carefully phrased message stressed there would be "no secret deals" with
the junta, officially known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC), and that the goal remained the establishment of a "truly democratic
political system in Burma."

A source familiar with both sides said that contacts to date amounted to
little more than a reaffirmation of their respective positions, with the
SLORC defending its achievements and Aung San Suu Kyi stressing democratic
principles.

If there were to be no progress or no further meetings, the junta could face
increased international pressure rather than the increased access to
international aid and acceptance it has been seeking, analysts said.

But the SLORC might forestall an outcry by allowing the International
Committee for the Red Cross to visit political detainees at Insein Prison
-- an attractive option, some analysts suggested, as such visits are by
definition confidential, and no reports are made public.

An informed foreign source acknowledged this would be "a low-cost option"
for the SLORC, which has already promised such visits "soon."  The source
declined to link the two issues directly, however, saying the prison visits
"will happen in any case" and would have to be considered "a step forward."

Junta spokesmen from the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence were
no available for comment Tuesday.

Foreign diplomats and other analysts contacted in Rangoon Tuesday all agreed
that the whole process would take time.

"Given the personalities involved and their diametrically opposed positions,
it will take a lot more than two formal meetings to resolve their differences.
The dialogue is yet to be engaged," one commented.

Another remarked that both sides would have to make concessions, and it would
take some adjustment before they could be "comfortable with what they have
agreed."

Meanwhile, the junta has backed away from releasing the 49-year-old Nobel
Peace Prize laureate, and has created some confusion over the legal basis for
her detention as well as teh maximum period of detention allowed.

The SLORC tried to "excuse thier behavior and dress it up in legal garb,"
but appeared to have abandoned the effort now, a Rangoon-based diplomat said.

"After a certain point you start to look ridiculous," another foreign
observer commented.  Instead of getting involved in convoluted "legal
shenanigans," the SLORC might as well "just take the heat" for its actions,
he added.

Analysts agreed that Aung San Suu Kyi's release would be a political
decision and not a legal one.

The charismatic dissident has been kept under guard at her lakeside home
in Rangoon since July 1989 by the SLORC, which took power after nationwide
pro-democracy demonstrations the previous year.

The protests were brutally suppressed, but the SLORC allowed elections to
be organized in 1990 that overwhelmingly backed Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD).  The SLORC, however, refused to hand over power
and again cracked down on the opposition.

While her key political advisors are in jail, remnants of the NLD are taking
part in the junta's national assemby to outline a new constitution.

NLD members have said they do not know what is happening in the junta's talks
with the party's co-founder but would continue to push previously defined
policies focusing on demands for democracy.


The Times (London)
January 24, 1995
A foreign threat to our free speech?
>From Mr. D.H. Walton

Sir, This evening the 9pm BBC news carried an item about slave labour in
Burma.  If the new Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
discussed by Antony Whitaker ("Stand up for free speech," and leading article,
"Law from abroad," January 19) becomes law it will mean that in the future
such reports can be suppressed by the government of a foreign country, who
will merely need to pass a law making it an offence to report the misdeeds
of the government and then watch the British courts become an instrument
of oppression for every nasty little dictator's regime.

Yours truly,

David H. Walton
10 St Guthlac's Close, Crowland,
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
January 19.