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Cambodian democracy leader forge an



Subject: Cambodian democracy leader forge an alliance with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

	*** Suu Kyi, Rainsy Forge Asian Pro-Democracy Alliance ***
            ================================================== 

  
	PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) _ Outspoken Cambodian dissident Sam
	Rainsy said Thursday he had forged an alliance with Burma's Aung
	San Suu Kyi to promote democracy in Asia.
   	Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and defiant
	opponent of Burma's military regime, met Rainsy during his recent
	trip to Burma.
   	
	Rainsy told a news conference they had ``agreed to help each
	other to promote,to advocate and to uphold democratic values and
	principles.''
   	``We acknowledge that the fight for democracy throughout Asia
	will not be easy, but we are confident that in the not-too-distant
	future democracy will prevail in Asia.''
   	
	Rainsy is an ex-finance minister and former star of the royalist
	FUNCINPEC party, which shares power with ex-communists in a
	coalition that emerged from U.N.-sponsored elections in 1993.
   	
	Rainsy accuses both parties of corruption. The government has
	refused to recognized his Khmer Nation Party, and party workers
	have been harassed and sometimes killed.
   	
	Suu Kyi has gained international stature for her non-violent
	opposition to Burma's entrenched military regime, which kept her
	under house arrest for six years.
   	
	``We share common views that neither Burma nor Cambodia can
	contribute to the stability and growth of the region given the
	situation prevailing in our two countries,'' Rainsy said.
   	Rainsy said that he and Suu Kyi had agreed to work together in
	various, unspecified forms and to establish contacts with other
	Asian pro-democracy movements.
   
151241 Aug GMT