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[Fwd: glad they cleared that up...]



Angela Gunn wrote:
> 
> Burma slams Amnesty International report
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Copyright ¸ 1997 Nando.net
> Copyright ¸ 1997 Reuter Information Service
> 
> BANGKOK (Feb 12, 1997 07:12 a.m. EST) - Burma's military government on
> Wednesday slammed as "ridiculous"
> a scathing report from Amnesty International that said human rights violations
> in the country last year reached their
> highest level of the decade.
> 
> Western diplomats said the Amnesty report was expected to add another stumbling
> block to efforts by Southeast
> Asia and the European Union to cement ties at two days of ministerial meetings
> starting in Singapore on Thursday.
> 
> Moves to forge closer relations between the seven members of the Association of
> Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
> and the 15-nation European Union stalled on Wednesday over how to deal with
> Burma and East Timor, delegates said.
> 
> A Burmese government spokesman said the report by Amnesty, a London-based human
> rights organisation, was
> propoganda for anti-Burmese organisations.
> 
> "We the people of Myanmar (Burma) are amazed at the increasing intensity of
> ridiculous allegations Amnesty
> International comes up with each year," he told Reuters.
> 
> "It is also regretful to learn that such a reputable organisation becomes a
> press office or a propaganda machine for the
> anti-Myanmar government organisations," he added.
> 
> The Amnesty report, released on Wednesday, said political repression and human
> rights violations in Burma last year
> reached their highest levels since the violent state suppression of a popular
> uprising in late 1988.
> 
> It said more than 2,000 people were arrested in 1996 for calling for human
> rights reform, and opposition party members
> were attacked by organised mobs.
> 
> "Last year was the worst for human rights in Myanmar (Burma) since 1990. While
> the world talks about constructive
> engagement', things are going backwards in Myanmar," it said.
> 
> "Those governments with influence, particularly the Association of Southeast
> Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathering in
> Singapore this week, need to think again about how to pressure the Burmese
> authorities to improve their human
> rights record."
> 
> Some major Western multinationals such as PepsiCo have already stopped doing
> business in Burma under pressure
> from their shareholders.
> 
> ASEAN argues constructive engagement will bring about reforms in Burma and has
> agreed to admit it as a member
> along with Laos and Cambodia some time in the future.
> 
> Amnesty accused Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
> of "an almost complete intolerance
> of any peaceful political activity whatsoever."
> 
> Pro-democracy opposition leader Aung Sun Kyi was repeatedly refused permission
> to leave her compound in 1996 after
> having been freed from six years of house arrest in July 1995, it said.
> 
> The government spokesman said Amnesty was "extremely ignorant of the true
> situation" in Burma."
> 
> "There is a Myanmar proverb -- it is more difficult to try to wake up a person
> who is pretending to be asleep," he said.
> 
> In Singapore, senior officials from the EU and ASEAN could not agree on wording
> for a final declaration that indirectly
> deals with the issues of Burma and East Timor, delegates said.
> 
> They said the major topic at the preparatory meeting for the two days of
> ministerial discussions was Burma, but the fight
> between Portugal and Indonesia over East Timor was the big stumbling block.
> 
> "The Portuguese will not agree any declaration that could bind them to
> extending relations with Indonesia or ASEAN while
> perceived human rights problems in East Timor remain unresolved," said an EU
> official who declined to be identified.
> 
> Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975 after a
> civil war following Lisbon's abrupt
> decolonisation. Up to a third of the population died in the famine and fighting
> that followed.
> 
> ASEAN groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
> and Vietnam.
> 
> Indonesia has threatened to walk out if East Timor was brought up at the
> EU-ASEAN meetings or on Saturday, when the
> 22 ministers will be joined by colleagues from Japan, China and South Korea to
> plan a second Asia-Europe summit.

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