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BurmaNet News 17th July 1995



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The BurmaNet News: July 17, 1995

BURMA AFFIRMS CHINA TIES IMPORTANT
NCUB CONGRATULATES NEW PRIME MINISTER
NOTE FROM JULY 16 BKK POST(AP-RANGOON): 
NOTE FROM REUTERS MAESOT(BKK POST ON 16.7.95)
SLORC REAFFIRMS INTENTION TO RETAIN FIRM GRASP ON POWER
RELEASE DISSIDENT FINALLY TALKS TO HER FAMILY
SUU KYI SEEKS AN " APPROPRIATE " DEMOCRACY
WHAT COMES NEXT?
TOO SOON FOR FULL TRADE AND POLITICAL TIES WITH BURMA
RANGOON MILITARY SEIZES FOUR TRUCKLOADS OF THAI PRODUCTS
CLOSE AIDES MAY FORCE KHUN SA TO SURRENDER LEADERSHIP
SUU KYI LACK OF TRUST IS ROOT OF PROBLEM
WORLD ATTENTION TURNS TO BURMA
URGE MILITARY TO ENTER INTO TALKS
SUU KYI TO ATTEND FIRST MAJOR PUBLIC CEREMONY THIS WEEK.
SPECIAL NOTE

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===== item =====

BURMA AFFIRMS CHINA TIES IMPORTANT
Bkk Post/16.7.95

by ANURAJ MANIBHANDU
Rangoon

Burmese Foreign minister Ohn Gyaw has affirmed that friendship
with China is important to Rangoon's regional policy
calculations.

But he stressed that Burma sought to establish "friendly
relations" with all neighbouring countries as it now focuses on
regional stability as part of its "changing with the times".

The minister made the points in an exclusive interview with the
Bangkok Post on Thursday.

That was when he confirmed that Burma is planning to take a first
step toward eventual membership of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"Yes" the minister replied when asked if Burma's friendship with
China was important to the course of Burma's relations with
Southeast Asian states.

"We have five neighbouring countries, three in the east and two
in the west. Our aim and our aspiration is to have friendly
relations with neighbouring countries," he said.

China, Laos and Thailand are Burma's immediate neighbours to the
east. Bangladesh and India lie immediately west.

"We have been able to establish together with China, and together
with India, five principles of peaceful co-existence," Ohn Gyaw
said.

"We have good border trade with China. We have good exchange of
visits.

"And we have a good economy and, above all, we have good
understanding of each other," he said.

"Yes, the BCP they have supported, but they have discontinued (to
do so)," the minister said of China's previous, long-lasting
support for the now-defunct Burmese Communist Party.

"But this is not the main criteria of good relations because you
have to understand people-to -people relations and leadership
relations," the Burmese minister said.

"Understanding is the most important thing. You have to
understand other countries' difficulties, other countries'
commitments," he said.

China's Prime Minister Li Peng visited Burma last December.
Chinese Defence Minister Chi Guotian was in Rangoon last week.

Mr Li Peng, during his visit to Rangoon, publicly denied reports
that China was trying to firm up facilities at naval bases in the
Andaman Sea.

Little is known of the Chinese defence minister's trip. China and
Burma share a common border that stretches 2,000 kilometers.

"With the two neighbouring countries, it is quite natural what we
are doing. You have to see it from the perspective of what our
country is doing" the Burmese foreign minister said.

"We are trying to invite the insurgents. We are trying to invite
the armed groups who were, during the last 35 or 40 years, away
from the legal fold.

"Now we have invited them back into the legal fold. And then it
has become our obligation to the natural races at the border
area.

"Of course, we have to rely on each other, neighbouring
countries," the minister said.

After Rangoon's forces crushed the Karen National Union
stronghold in January this year, the Shan United Army of opium
warlord Khun Sa is considered to be the only rebel group left
with teeth.

Ohn Gyaw affirmed that Burma and China were cooperating in road-
building in order to promote border trade.

"The United Nations itself has been promoting this thing you know
what is the meaning of Asian Highway, going from one country to
another," he said.

***************************************************************


===== item =====

NCUB CONGRATULATES NEW PRIME MINISTER
Bkk Post/BRIEFS/16.7.95

The National Council of the Union of Burma on Friday has sent a
message of congratulations to Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa
on his becoming the 21st premier of Thailand.

It reads: "On behalf of the NCUB, may I offer my heartfelt
congratulations on your recent success in the polls held on July
2, 1995, reflecting as it must the trust of the people of
Thailand in your able hands to lead the Royal Thai Government".

The letter was signed by Tin Maung Win of the Political Leading
Committee of the NCUB and vice chairman of the Democratic
Alliance of Burma.

The NCUB is the umbrella group encompassing the DAB, the National
League for Democracy, the National Democratic Front, and the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

The congratulatory note said while it continues to strive to
restore peace, prosperity, democracy and respect for human rights
in Burma, it hopes that Thailand will be instrumental in
achieving this aim.
 
"We hope that under your leadership [PM Banharn], the royal Thai
Government will use all influences available to help bring this
about and so open the way for Burma to achieve its potential to
play significant and active roles in the affairs of the region."


===== item =====

NOTE FROM JULY 16 BKK POST(AP-RANGOON): 

Aung san Suu Kyi not yet said whether she will attend the
Martyrs Day ceremony Wednesday commemorating the assassination
of the heros of Burmese independence, including her father, Sung
San. Disturbances are possible if she attends.

Yesterday, at home, Suu Kyi was visited by foreign diplomats and 
she consoled the family of an activist who was jailed earlier
this year for singing pro-democracy songs at the funeral of
former Prime Minister U Nu.

Then She appeared over the top of the gate to greet the 300-400
supporters gather outside.

"Your presence shows the people are behind me," she told them. "I
will never betray my country and my people, I am very busy but I
am working for my country and not myself."

"Can you be disciplined?" She asked, and they shouted back: "Yes
we can."  
 

===== item =====

NOTE FROM REUTERS MAESOT(BKK POST ON 16.7.95)

Meanwhile, the Karen National Union is to call a meeting to
devise a new strategy following the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,
according to KNU sources.

The strategy will be discussed at the National Assembly of rebel
groups in including the KNU, All-Burma Students Democratic Front,
former MPs of the 1990 election and various minority forces.

The assembly, chaired by Gen Bo Mya, chairman of KNU's Congress,
will be held at the new KNU base across the border from Umphang
District, Tak Province, A date has not yet been set.

The President of the All-Burma Muslim Union, Dr. Abdul Razak,
said members of the rebel groups have suggested it is time to
resume discussion on strategy now that Suu Kyi has been released.
July 19 marks the 7th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising
in Burma. 

The ABMU President maintains that the strategy should be
carefully devised to ensure the safety of Suu Kyi and to prevent
possible misunderstanding on the government side.

Dr, Razak said the meeting was earlier scheduled to for March but
was called off due to a series of attacks by government forces on
KNU bases. He said the KNU is working towards a ceasefire
agreement with the Slorc.


===== item =====

SLORC REAFFIRMS INTENTION TO RETAIN FIRM GRASP ON POWER
The Nation/16.7.95

Associated Press

RANGOON - Despite releasing dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
the military is still reminding people that it has no intention
of relinquishing power.

A series of essays in the New Light of Myanmar daily in recent
days has criticized groups opposed to the military as
undemocratic. The essays were signed by Nawratha, believed to be
a pen name for a senior military officer.

Despite her house arrest a year earlier, Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party still won a general election in 1990,
but the military later refused to let it take power. Officers
have said they will not transfer power to civilians until the
drafting of a new constitution is completed. No timetable has
been given.

The top government leaders, Gen Than Shwe and Gen Khin Nyunt,
attended a meeting of police force commanders on Friday, the New
Light of Myanmar reported yesterday. Than Shwe told the meeting
that the army "brings peace of mind, tranquility and security to
the people."

Saturday's essay asked: "Is this immense force [the army] to be
denied a role on the political stage and forced into the role of
a mere spectator? Is it to be kept a mere ornament?

The essay noted the criticism of the military's insistence on
writing a political position for itself into the new
constitution, which is being drafted by a national convention of
selected political groups. Opponents have labelled the convention
a sham and want the document scrapped.

"That amounted to saying, 'We no longer want democracy, what is
important article said. "The army must return to the barracks,
the critics say..But translating a document into deeds might not
be so easy....That is why the army has asked for a role in the
future [Burma[ leadership."

The state-owned press still has not reported Suu Kyi's release,
and no military official has agreed to meet with foreign
journalists.

Since her release, Suu Kyi has taken a cautious, non-
confrontational stand toward the military authorities. Dialogue
on national reconciliation, she says, is the way to accomplish
change.

"We must never forget that the people of the Burmese Army are
part of the people," she told reporters Friday night. "And while
the experience of war may have brutalized some, it does not mean
the whole army is irredeemable."

"I do not dislike them," she said. "That is why perhaps I am not
afraid of them."

Asked if  she thought the army would allow her to rule the
country, she replied: "I don't think this is something that
should be in their hands. It's for the people of Burma to
decide."

At a news conference earlier Friday, she urged countries not to
rush to improve relations with Burma following her release
because "nothing else" has changed under military rule.

"All those who are interested in democratic development in Burma
should wait and see,' Suu Kyi said. 'They should see what is
going to happen before they decide to change their tactics."

"We are nowhere near democracy yet," she said. "I have been
released, that's all. There's nothing else. The situation has not
changed in any other way."

Foreign governments have welcomed Suu Kyi's release, but some
pressed for more democratic reform in Burma, which has been
accused of widespread human rights violations. The United States,
Japan and other governments curtailed economic aid and diplomatic
contacts with the Burmese government since the 1988 massacre.

In Tokyo, a top Foreign Ministry official said on Friday that
Japan will offer some financial aid to Burma "to show how the
international community welcomes"Suu Kyi's release, Japan's Kyodo
news agency reported.

But the Burmese government would have to set a specific timetable
for transferring power to civilians before full resumption of
Japanese aid can take place, said the official, who demanded
anonymity.

In the United States, Sen Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that
he would delay for two weeks the presentation of a bill to the US
Senate urging tough legislation against Rangoon. Suu Kyi's
release prompted the decision to delay. The legislation, if
passed, would ban US trade with Burma unless all political
prisoners are released, power is transferred to elected
opposition leaders, and progress is made against drug
trafficking.

Sustained pressure is needed against " the biggest pariah state
in the world," said McConnell, who announced a hearing on Burma
for July 25.

On Friday, Suu Kyi welcomed the  move saying, ' They are very
tough sanctions, and I think they have shown that  they are very
interested in how the democracy movement progresses," she said.  
" I am very grateful for it."


===== item =====

RELEASE DISSIDENT FINALLY TALKS TO HER FAMILY
16.7.95/The Nation

Rangoon -Recently-released Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi has
finally talked to her family in Britain, and they plan to come
here soon to visit her. 

She told reports on Friday that she had a " calm" talk with her
husband the night before, and that she had also spoken with her
younger son, Kim. Her older son, Alexander, was on a holiday.

Her husband, British academic Michael Aris, advised her to " get
enough sleep, she said. Aris and Kim plan to come visit her in a
week or two, she added. 

Suu Kyi, who was freed from nearly six years of house arrest here
on Monday, could not immediately convey the good news to her
family in Britain because she has no telephone in her lakeside
home.

Source said she went to the British embassy here on Thursday
night and was put through to her family from there.

Suu Kyi has complained to reporters that they have been
monopolizing her time, preventing her from learning the answers
to the questions they were posing Aside from meeting journalists,
she has held a series of consultations with colleagues at her
home.

Every day since her release, people have been crowding outside
her compound. 

On Friday, about 300 people were there and they dispersed after
she went out to speak with them. Suu Kyi has urged people to be
calm, apparently to avoid causing any mass disturbances that
might five the military a pretext to interfere. 


===== item =====

SUU KYI SEEKS AN " APPROPRIATE " DEMOCRACY
16.7.95/The Nation

Rangoon - What Aung San Suu Kyi is looking for, now that she has
been freed from six years of house arrest, is a form of democracy
that is right for Burma.

" But there are some basic conditions which have to be met," she
told AFP in an interview late Friday. " Democracy means respect
for the people. Democracy means a government which is consummate
with the will of the people." 

Without the respect, " you cannot call it a real democracy," she
said. 

" People make this big thing about, `we can't have a western-
style democracy . That Burma is Burma. We have got to have a
Burmese democracy, an Asian democracy," Aung San Suu Kyi said. 

" American democracy is different from British democracy. British
democracy is different from French democracy, and so on," she
stressed. " In the same way, Burmese democracy will be different
from every other democracy.

Burma has experienced democracy before, she noted.

" It's not as if we are coming to it raw," she said. " Obviously,
there will have to be some sort of evolution. But we are not
really starting fro a vacuum." 

Aung San Suu Kyi has been meeting constantly since her release on
Monday with other top members of the National League for
Democracy [NLD], which she helped found in 1988. 

She has not discussed the details of their talks except to say
that they are trying to decide how best to proceed, and she
declined again to say what from of new government of an interim
power-sharing arrangement might be acceptable to them. " I have
no mandate to discuss that," she said.

She told a news conference on Friday that she was willing to
negotiate with the ruling junta, as " there is no way we can
achieve reconciliation unless we talk with each other." 

But she also urged nations and world institutions not to rush in
and offer Burma development aid before assessing the country's
political situation, and whether there had been any " genuine
move" towards reconciliation.

" I have been released. That is all Nothing else has changed,"
she told reporters. 

Asked in the interview if the new Aung San Suu Kyi, who preaches
compromise and says occasional nice things about the military
government, is a more mature, mellower version of the woman who
made strident speeches six years ago, she suggests that is not
really the case.

" I have always asked for dialogue" with the military rulers, she
said. " That I would like to emphasize . I have asked for
dialogue and I am continuing to ask for dialogue . This is not a
new development .

" But if people feel that my style is more mellow, that is a
compliment," she said with a smile.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has insisted she was released without
conditions, also said she has " no intention of testing the
limits of my freedom now." 

But that does not mean she will kowtow to the military
government. " I will do whatever I think needs to be done and
what my colleagues feel needs to be done " she said sternly.
"That is my business."


===== item =====

WHAT COMES NEXT?
16.7.95/The Nation

Aung San Suu Kyi is free and no one knows what will come next
for Burma. 

For her political colleagues in Rangoon [those who are not in
jail], to meet up again with the woman who swept the National
League for Democracy [NLD] to victory in 1990 must inevitably be
to remember where they left off.

Back then, Suu Kyi and her team were the jubilant landslide
winners of an election that promised to usher in a new period of
hope.

Today, five years later, that short, victorious time when
optimism electrified the country can once again -if just barely -
be remembered aloud, spoken about, and, for the NLD, put back on
the political agenda.

To look at some images in Burma's Revolution of The Spirit: The
Struggle for Democratic Freedom and Dignity, [ Whit Orchard
Press, Bangkok] is to be reminded of the sheer scale of the NLD's
win in 1990 before the victory was disallowed.

We see thousands of Burmese defying the military to gather at
rallies around the country and listen to the daughter of national
hero Aung San Suu Kyi herself smiling, waving, carrying flowers
given to her wherever she went ; monks carrying banners
supporting the democracy movement, and young women pro-democracy
campaigners.

Also here are images of terror before the election ; the maimed
and the murdered during the brutally suppressed demonstrations of
August 1988 and after, pro-democracy villages burnt out by
soldiers, sick and injured refugees in the border areas, the
shallow graves of ordinary people forced to work as porters for
the junta and then killed.

Burma's Revolution .... by Alan Clements, founder of the Burma
Project USA, and    Leslie Kean was originally published in
hardback in the United States by Aperture, and was released
recently in Bangkok in paperback by White Orchard Press. It aims,
as the title suggests, to support the struggle for democracy ,
and comes with stunning images, some of which were smuggled out
of Burma, from a wide range of international photographers.

Brief chapters explain a little of the country's background
leading up to the events of 1988 and since, with input from the
writings of Aung San Suu Kyi and other Nobel peace laureates like
Dr Oscar Arias and Archbishop  Desmond Tutu.

Sandy Barron


===== item =====

TOO SOON FOR FULL TRADE AND POLITICAL TIES WITH BURMA
The Nation/EDITORIAL/16.7.95

The eyes of the world are once again on southeast Asia. At the
beginning of the week, the military junta in Burma surprised the
world when they released Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Six years of house detention and separation from her family had
not broken the determined will of Suu Kyi to fight for her
people's freedom. "Democracy means respect for the people.
Democracy means a government which is consummate with the will of
the people. Without that respect, you can not call it a real
democracy," she told reporters after her release.

Suu Kyi's release by the junta calling itself the State Law and
Order Restoration Council, however is just one step_ albeit  a
very important one_ in a broader process that must begin
immediately. In fact she herself has said: " I have been
released. That is all. Nothing else has changed."

The international community needs to be reminds of this fact
before rushing into the country with development aid.

It is heartening to note that Japan has serious taken into
account Suu Kyi's words. Late Friday, a top official in Tokyo
said Japan will not yet resume full-fledged official loans to
Burma despite the Nobel laureate's release. Speaking to Kyodo
News Agency, he said Suu Kyi's release was "a big, important
step" so that Japan will offer same financial aid to Burma "to
show how the international community welcomes" the development.
But the release is not enough for Japan to fully resume official
development assistance (ODA) to Burma, the official said.

Japanese ODA

For Japan to completely lift its freeze on ODA, Burma should
hammer out a specific timetable for the transfer of power to
civilians, he said. Japan has suspended ODA to Burma since a
military coup in 1988, and has limited its aid to small-scale
humanitarian aid. Last March, Japan extended 1 billion yen in
food aid to minority groups in Burma, a move government officials
described as an attempt to convey a message to Burma to make
further efforts to return the country to democratic rule and
improve human rights.

US Republican senator Mitch McConnell, the chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee's Foreign Operations Subcommittee, last
week planned to introduce legislation in Congress to ban American
investment and trade with Burma and suspend bilateral and
multilateral assistance to countries which trade with the Slorc.
The legislation would have also required the US president to
negotiate agreements with other nations to secure supports for
sanctions.

Suu Kyi's release by Slorc however put that proposed bill on
hold. But McConnell's proposed legislation, the 1995 Free Burma
Act, has not been dropped. The Kentucky senator made it known in
Washington that unless President Clinton can certify within the
next two weeks that the Slorc has met certain conditions, he will
move forward with the Act. These conditions include the release
of all political prisoners, the implementation of an effective
narcotics eradication and control regime consistent with the
Foreign Assistance Act, the transference of power to civilian
authorities, and the guaranteed protection of basic political and
human rights.

"It is my intention to carefully monitor progress in the next two
weeks in Burma. If there are no concrete steps taken to initiate
a process of national reconciliation, to formalize the transfer
of power to a civilian government, and correct the appalling 
record of human rights abuses, I will move forward with my
legislation," he said in a statement.

Playing into Slorc's hands?

Reestablishing full trade and political ties with Burma at this
juncture would be playing into the hands of the Slorc. Suu Kyi
herself said "it is too donors should wait and see whether there
is a genuine move towards reconciliation and a democratic system
of government."

The Nobel laureate's advice can be compared to that of South
Africa's Nelson Mandela when he was released in 1990. Mandela did
not call for the end of sanctions against the South African white
regime until three years after was released.

Suu Kyi has also called for a dialogue with the Slorc to
negotiate the peaceful transfer of power. In her statement on the
day she was released, the National League for Democracy leader
takes note of the fact that a majority of the people in Burma
voted for democracy and a market economy in 1990.

There in a window of opportunity now for the Slorc to respond to
overtures for national reconciliation in Burma. Unless this is
seen to be happening, the appropriate approach for the moment
with the Burmese military junta must be that of caution. The
regime is still holding an entire nation hostage.


===== item =====

RANGOON MILITARY SEIZES FOUR TRUCKLOADS OF THAI PRODUCTS
The Nation/16.7.95

Reuter

MAE SOT_ Military authorities in southeastern Burma have seized a
large consignment of Thai goods in a continuing campaign to
boycott products from its neighbour, a Thai trade official said
yesterday.

Four large truckloads of Thai goods were seized in the town of
Pa-an, near the border with Thailand, on Friday Jirasakdi
Paiboonthamaroj, a local chamber of commerce official, said.

Jirasakdi told reporters the consignment, which was being taken
to central Burma be sold, had been in storage in Burma before
authorities launched their boycott campaign against Thailand last
month, Reuters reported.

Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council(Slorc) had
made no   announcement about the boycott, nor explained the
reason for the campaign, but follows a period of strained
relations between Rangoon and Bangkok.

Government officials have played down the boycott saying it was
it was a local-level problem that would be solved through talks.

Relations between Burma and Thailand, historical enemies,
deteriorated sharply in 1993 when Thailand allow a delegation of
Nobel Peace laureates, including the Dalai Lama and South
Africa's bishop Desmond Tutu, to campaign in Thailand for the
release of Burma's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Links were damaged again earlier this year when the two countries
exchanged accusations after  Burmese forces attacked and captured
anti-government guerrilla bases near the Thai border in
southeastern Burma.

The offensive forced an extra 10,000 refugees into Thailand,
taking the total population of those who had fled Burma into
Thailand to 80,000.

Bangkok complained to Rangoon on several occasions about
territorial violations by Burmese troops and a series of raids on
refugee camps in Thailand. Slorc accused Thailand of supporting
the rebels. 

Meanwhile, Army Commander-in-chief Gen Wimol Wongwanich said
yesterday in Bangkok it would take a few days to resolve the
problem surrounding the abrupt halting of construction of the
border bridge linking Tak's Mae Sot district and the Burmese
border town of Myawaddy.

The Burmese had decided to stop the construction of because some
local businessmen had tried to gain an economic advantage by
reclaiming land on the Moei River bank for the construction of a
shopping mall, he said.

Wimol said he expected the problem to be solved within two or
three days.

It was the duty of the Interior Ministry to look into the matter,
which involved private Thai companies, he said.

The bridge is 80 per cent complete.


===== item =====

CLOSE AIDES MAY FORCE KHUN SA TO SURRENDER LEADERSHIP
BKK Post/17.7.95

By Subin Khernkaew

Drug warlord Khun Sa may soon be forced to step down as head of
the Muang Tai Army. Several leaders in the Shan State National
Congress, for the first time in many decades, have become to feel
his notoriety is a barrier in the State's struggle for
independence.

A leading member of the congress told the Bangkok Post yesterday
that close aides of Khun Sa are plotting to stage what many
believe will be a "bloodless" revolt to force the warlord to step
down. The plotters are said to include Zao Gangade, a much-
respected congressman and a veteran army leader, who is tipped to
succeed Khun Sa.

Gangade has been recognised as a war hero who, together with
members of the Shan United Revolutionary Army resistance group,
helped fight the Burmese Army.

Many congress leaders are quoted as saying they can no longer
tolerate mounting pressure the "superpower"_ the United States_
which they claimed was responsible for negative worldwide
publicity about Khun Sa.

Increasing pressure from the US results from Khun Sa's alleged
drug involvement is the main obstacle preventing Shan State from
achieving independence, according to the congress source. This
has paved way for what congress members term a "gradual revolt
strategy" which began in the middle of January.

The congress will press for an emergency secession to be held no
later than October to decide the fate of khun Sa. If the cession
can be opened, it will indicate that Khun Sa is willing to heed
the voice of the congress and accept changes.

The source said it was speculated Ganade would take over from
Khun Sa as army supreme commander. Gangade's role would more or
less tone down any undercurrent of resentment stemming form Khun
Sa loyalists.

The congress' political branch chief, Kyan Mong, has emerged as
the most likely choice for the state's political leader. Mong has
been praised for being well-versed in politics.

It will not be easy for the congress to strip Khun Sa of his
power and eradicate the longstanding negative image of the MTA s
bunch of outlaws dealing in narcotics.

Nonetheless, Shan people scattered across the globe are said to
support the congress in its determination to end Khun Sa's
empire.

The 71-year old MTA commander has a strong military base south of
Shan State, bordering Karenni State.

He also controls a wide area stretching over 250 miles along the
Thai-Burmese border opposite Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai and Chiang
Mai. The US has offered a US$200,000 reward for the capture of
Khun Sa.

Khun Sa was quoted in an interview with the foreign press as
saying: "I'm willing to sacrifice my life, if that will wipe out
drugs form this world. I have been linked to a tree with gold
leaves.

"Whether they wanted gold, they would shake the leaves. The gold
was theirs, and never mine."

Gangade, the congress president, told the Bangkok Post the time
had come for the drug warlord to limit his role in the MTA to
quicken the pace for achieving independence" for Shan State. In
doing so, however, no one can force Khun Sa.

Pressure caused by drug allegations from both outside and within
has prompted the congress to look it itself and to do everything
in its power to "clear" its name, according to Gangade.

He said for the past six months Khun Sa spent much of his time in
the secluded atmosphere of temples. The rumour that he was
critically ill was later proved to be false.

Despite being a target of bad publicity, Khun Sa is very much
respected by military men and Shan people have a lot of faith in 
him.

He defended Khun Sa over the US drug allegation, saying there was
no need for Khun Sa to recruit tens of thousands of soldiers to
work in the MTA if he wanted to traffick narcotics.


===== item =====

SUU KYI LACK OF TRUST IS ROOT OF PROBLEM
Bkk Post/17.7.95

by Anuraj Manibhandu

BURMA'S problem with ethnic minorities stems from a lack of trust
and a ceasefire does not ensure permanent peace, according to
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The basis of it is lack of trust," she told a news conference on
Friday.

A ceasefire "is desirable because it lessens suffering," she
said. But it is "not the same as permanent peace".

Before she was placed under house arrest on July 20 1989, Mrs Suu
Kyi had sent representatives to the now-flattened Karen National
Union headquarter at Manerplaw spoke of holding a national
conference among ethnic groups.

Her representatives also expressed support for the idea of a
having a dual state system, according to a source who was in
touch with KNU leader Gen Bo Mya later that year.

The KNU, for 40 years one of the strongest groups to demand
autonomy from Rangoon, continues to hold out against being
"invited back into the legal fold".

But the crushing of its Manerplaw stronghold in January this year
has weakened its clout.

What is KNU ? a Burmese minister remarked in an interview with
the Bangkok Post on Thursday.

"At one time, KNU was a force, a force to recognise, as a matter
of equipment and assistance they are getting," he said.

"Right now the KNU is no longer what it was before. So we are
inviting them to come back into the legal fold."

"Out of 16 groups, now nearly fifteen and a half are coming
back," the minister said.

On July 29, the Mons became the most recent ethnic group to reach
a ceasefire agreement with the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council.

Analysts in Burma stress the ceasefire is fragile.

"Most people misunderstand and think the ethnic groups have laid
down arms," one analyst said.

"They remain armed forces. The only difference is that they have
stopped shooting."

The promise of development aid has been a key incentive for the
ethnic groups, who live in difficult terrain in the Thai-Burmese
border area.

Rangoon's need to deliver this promise to the rebels and
generally develop the country is seen to be an important factor
in the release of Mrs Suu Kyi on July 10.

Donors earlier made clear that aid was conditional on the release
of the pro-democracy leader, one analyst said.

At a press conference on Friday, Mrs Suu Kyi urged potential
donors in the West, as well as the Japanese government, to "wait
and see" whether there  was a genuine move toward democracy and
national reconciliation.

"I have been released, that's all. Nothing else has changed," she
said.

Japan stopped assistance to Burma following the suppression of
pro-democracy people in 1988.

But in late March this year, it announced it would grant one
billion yen in aid for development in Burma's border areas.


===== item =====

WORLD ATTENTION TURNS TO BURMA
Bkk Post/Editorial/Around the World/17.7.95

The military junta in  Burma released opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi last Monday, leaving the world guessing the reasons
behind their move. The release caught many world leaders and
Burma watchers by surprise.

Some world leaders have praised the junta, which is called SLORC,
and are promising policy changes towards Burma. But others are
being cautious because it is not very clear whether there are
conditions on the release.

The junta seems to have worked out the best way possible to keep
the world guessing about what has been happening behind the
scenes.

While people elsewhere are guessing what kind of freedom Suu Kyi
is now enjoying_ unconditional or not, and for how long_ the
Burmese rulers continue to hold thousands of other political
prisoners in custody, after brutally murdering scores of others.

The junta may have realised that Burma was beginning to look like
the world's largest prison commanded by Stalinist-style officers
at a time when a country is badly in need of economic cooperation
with other nations. The junta seems to have learned well enough
form the failure of Cuba's fidel Castro and Albania's Enver Hoxa,
whose rules have left their people facing unbearable economic
hardships.

The junta, as authoritarian regimes do elsewhere, claims that is
limiting democratic rights for the sake of the nation's future.
                                                                                                              
                                                  Jakarta Post
                                                                  
===== item =====

URGE MILITARY TO ENTER INTO TALKS

WITHIN hours of her unexpected release from house arrest, Burmese
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi conferred with colleagues for
her party, the National League for Democracy. The ruling State
Law and Order Restoration Council has warned her not to break any
laws, and it is unclear how far she_ or her party_ will be
allowed to campaign for change.

Nevertheless, the fact that she was allowed contact with the
opposition after nearly six years in detention suggests that, for
the moment, the change in the military government's attitude
towards her is real. Using the logic of totalitarianism, the
government can even boast that it acted according to the law by
releasing Aung San Suu Kyi within the deadline for her detention.


                                         South China Morning Post


===== item =====

SUU KYI TO ATTEND FIRST MAJOR PUBLIC CEREMONY THIS WEEK.
The Nation/ 17.7.95

Associated Press

Rangoon- Burmese dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday
she will attend this Wednesday's Martyrs' Day ceremony, her first
major public appearance since her release from house arrest.

That may worry the military authorities, given Suu Kyi's immense
popularity, and they are likely to take extra security
precautions.

The ceremony near Shwedagon pagoda- one of Burmese best-known
tourist site--commemorates the 1947 assassinations of Suu Kyi's
father, Aung San, and other heroes of Burmese independence form
Britain.

Suu Kyi, 50, did not give details, except to say she would return
home after the ceremony. 

she has mostly remained at her residence, meeting with
supporters, diplomats and journalists, since her release last
Monday from six years of detention for having led huge pro-
democracy demonstrations in 1988. The military crushed the
demonstrations with hundreds of death.

Government officials, foreign diplomats and usually hundreds of
ordinary Burmese attend the Martyrs' Day event, which includes a
wreath-laying ceremony at the Martyrs' Mausoleum and a religious
ceremony at the city hall.

Suu Kyi's last attended in 1988, after returning from many years
abroad. She boycotted the 1989 ceremony and instead planned to
march to the mausoleum with members of the pro-democracy parties.
She cancelled that , however, and the next day the military
placed her under house arrest under a law "safeguarding the state
from danger of subversionists". 

Her elder brother, Aung San Oo, an American citizen living in the
United States, laid the wreath at the 1994 ceremony. It was not
Known whether he will attend this year's event. 

Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been speaking with the few
hundred supporters who have crowded outside her lakeside home
each day since her release.

Yesterday she spoke to the crowd of about 400. None was seen
leaving despite a monsoon rain.

She also met with about 40 members of her extended family for the
first time as a group since her release. They all joined in a
Buddhist ceremony commemorating one of Aung San's brothers, who
was assassinated with him.

On Saturday, she went to the residence of Japanese Ambassador
Takashi Tajima for lunch with him, Japanese journalists said.
Details were not available. 

Suu Kyi's party easily won general election in 1990, but the
military refused to let it take power.

Officers have said they will not transfer power to civilian until
a new constitution has been drafted, but they have given no
timetable.

Since her release, Suu Kyi has taken a non-confrontational stand
towards the authorities and urged them to join her in talks on
national reconciliation. But articles in recent days in the
official press have stated that the military has no intention of
giving up power.


===== SPECIAL NOTE =====

About 15 students from ABBESU held a demonstration at the
front of the Japanese embassy in Bangkok this afternoon, asking
the Japanese government to postpone the ODA to Burma under
military rule and to resume the aid when a civilian government
elected by the people is established.

=================================================================

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