UKyi Maung relased, EU imposes rest

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Subject: UKyi Maung relased, EU imposes restrictions

28Oct96 LUXEMBOURG: EU IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON BURMESE LEADERS. 09:44 GMT  
LUXEMBOURG, Oct 28 (Reuter) - The European Union on Monday imposed strict
limits on contacts with Burmese officials in response to what the 15-nation
bloc sees as a failure to bring in democracy and end human-rights abuses.
Diplomats said that EU foreign ministers agreed the new restrictions without
discussion as they began a meeting in Luxembourg.  
The ministers agreed to refuse entry visas to senior members of Burma's
military government and their families, and to senior members of its armed
forces and security services viewed by the EU as impeding the country's
transition to democracy.
They also suspended all high-level EU visits to Burma.
In a statement, the ministers said the military government had failed "to
demonstrate any willingness to respond to the concerns of the United Nations
General Assembly and the European Union".
"Further measures may need to be considered," the ministers warned.  
(c) Reuters Limited 1996
REUTER NEWS SERVICE
 28Oct96 BURMA: BURMA RELEASES SUU KYI AIDE, REMOVES BLOCKADES. 09:40 GMT  
RANGOON, Oct 28 (Reuter) - Burma's military government on Monday released a
top National League for Democracy (NLD) official detained last week for
questioning over a recent student protest, a family member and NLD sources said.
Kyi Maung, deputy chairman of the NLD and a close advisor to Nobel Peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was picked up by the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) on October 23 for questioning over his alleged
role in the student protest.
"He was returned home at 12.45 p.m. (0615 GMT) today," a family member said
by telephone.
Official confirmation of his release was not immediately available.
Separately, the government on Monday removed blockades barring access to the
road leading to Suu Kyi's house, witnesses said.
They said the blockades, which were put up last Tuesday, were removed at
around 0700 GMT.
Kyi Maung's detention and a fresh crackdown on Suu Kyi's NLD by the SLORC
sparked widespread condemnation from Western nations and human rights
organisations.
The European Union was expected on Monday to increase pressure on the SLORC
by imposing tight visa restrictions.
Kyi Maung, 75, was in Rangoon's infamous Insein Prison from 1990 to 1995 for
his involvement in the democracy movement.
A government official said last week that Kyi Maung was being held for
questioning in a guesthouse to find out if he had advised two students
involved in a protest against the SLORC on October 23.
Kyi Maung was seen talking to two student leaders the day before up to 1,000
university students staged the sit-in demonstration about two km (1.2 miles)
from Suu Kyi's residence, the official said.
The SLORC accused the NLD, especially Kyi Maung, of colluding with the
students in the protest to foment unrest.
Students involved in last week's demonstration said it was apolitical, and
held to protest the authorities' rough handling of three students who were
briefly arrested following a quarrel at a restaurant.
A similar scuffle in a tea-shop in 1988 sparked nationwide outrage against
the former military regime, leading to pro-democracy street demonstrations
that left thousands dead or in jail.   The SLORC had blocked vehicle and
pedestrian access to University Avenue, the road on which Suu Kyi's house is
located, for most of the past month in an effort to stop various meetings of
the NLD from taking place.
Last week the checkpoints, manned by heavily-armed security police, were set
up to prevent Suu Kyi from holding an NLD meeting at her house, a government
official said.
The barricades have also stopped Suu Kyi from giving her regular weekend
speeches to supporters at her front gates for the past five weekends.
However, NLD sources said on Sunday that Suu Kyi had left her residence
recently and had been able to hold meetings with senior members of her party
at her home.
The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 election, but the SLORC never
recognised the results.    Cc) Reuters Limited 1996
REUTER NEWS SERVICE



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