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Suu Kyi, Mondale receive special de



Subject: Suu Kyi, Mondale receive special democracy award

The Daily Yomiuri
Wednesday, August 28, 1996
=====================
Suu Kyi, Mondale receive special democracy award
Chicago(AP)--- The image and voice of Myanmar opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi 
and an impassioned plea from her husband for freedom in the Southeast Asian 
country  brought standing ovations in a hall thousands of kilometers from the 
country she will not leave. Just the democratic Party's nominating covention was 
getting underway across town Monday, more than 700 diplomats, foreign officals 
and Democratic leaders gathered to honor Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi and 
former Vice President Walter Mondale with the annual W. Averell Harriman 
Democracy Awards.
	"At this moment, we in the movement for democracy are facing a lot of 
difficulties,"Suu Kyi said  in a videotape made for the awards ceremony. "The 
State Law and Order Restoration Council of Myanmar, the military regime which 
promised to lead Myanmar to multiparty democracy, is doing everything it can to 
crush the movement for democracy." Suu Kyi, whose husband, Micheal Aris, 
accepted the crystal globe award for her, was released from six years of house 
arrest last year and has been speaking to rallies of supporters each weekend  
outside her home.
	Aris said his wife"stands at the sharpest end of this ruthless campaign 
to destroy the struggle for freedom in Myanmar. "He said he has not been allowed 
to visit her since last December. Suu Kyi refuses to leave Myanmar, fearing she 
may not be allowed to return. Aris said the regime has been trying to pressure 
his wife into submission by arresting friends and members of her National League 
for Democracy. During the weekend in Yangon, Suu Kyi denounced a new wave of 
arrests, and a senior military leader pledged to crush her movement.
	"She will never give into this most evil form of blackmail,"Aris said, 
appealing for an early end to repression in Myanmar. Mondale, in a brief speech 
accepting the award, praised Suu Kyi and rejected the idea perpetrated by 
antidemocratic forces in Asia that the region is not suited for democracy 
because of cultural differences with Western countries. Mondale, currently U.S. 
ambassador to Japan, said Suu Kyi "symbolizes courage for human rights and 
democracy."

Information Committee
Burma Youth Volunteer Association-Japan.