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Burma Envoy Promises Election(10/08



Subject: Burma Envoy Promises Election(10/08/88)

                              The Associated Press



                      October  8, 1988, Saturday, PM cycle



HEADLINE: Burma Envoy Promises Elections, Defends Military Government

DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS

 BODY:
   Burma's U.N. ambassador defended his government's crackdown on recent
protests, but he also told the world body that his nation is moving toward
democracy. 
   Ambassador Maung Maung Gyi, in an address to the U.N. General Assembly on
Friday, said the military government has imposed "a reasonable measure of
stability" since it came to power after a Sept. 18 coup.

   He said his country has gone through "a crisis ... turmoil and unrest when
unavoidable incidents occur."

   Authorities "are making arrangements for holding general elections that will 
be free and fair, in which all political parties can participate, so that the
multiparty democratic system ... may be fully established," he said.

   "When there is a need to establish law and order and when ... the nation is
threatened, it is the duty and obligation of the authorities of state to assume 
their responsibilities to overcome such difficulties.

   "The prevailing situation today is that our nation is overcoming the period
of disruption and has achieved a reasonable measure of stability."

   Burma has been ruled by repressive military governments since a coup in 1962.
Pro-democracy protests, however, have burgeoned this year as the nation's
economy has deteriorated. 
   In Rangoon, two more political parties registered on Friday, bringing to nine
the number that have gained official recognition and the right to run
candidates.

   Rangoon radio said one person was killed when soldiers opened fire on about
100 people removing corrugated iron roofing from an already looted cigarette
factory in a northern Rangoon suburb.

   The government has said about 440 people have been killed since Gen.  Saw 
 Maung's  coup three weeks ago.

   Japan, West Germany and the United States have suspended aid to Burma,
although Washington has said it would continue humanitarian assistance. Japan
said Friday it will provide $$450,000 in emergency food aid through the U.N.
Children's Fund.

   "This doesn't mean we approve of  Saw Maung's  military government," Foreign 
Minister Sosuke Uno said in Tokyo.

***************************************
At 04:07 PM 5/7/97, you wrote:
>From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Julien Moe)
>
>The Burmese Response
>
>
>
>                         Wednesday, May 7 1997; Page A20
>                         The Washington Post 
>
>                         The Post's April 24 editorial "When Sanctions Make
>Sense"
>                         supported the Clinton administration's decision to
>impose economic
>                         sanctions on Myanmar [Burma]. It ignored historical
>precedent and
>                         failed to check the facts in portraying dissident
>Aung San Suu Kyi
>                         as having been "democratically elected."
>
>                         The Post's support for sanctions apparently is
>based on the
>                         assumption that there are widespread human rights
>violations in
>                         Myanmar.
>
>                         The government has negotiated successfully the
>return to the legal
>                         fold of 15 armed groups that had been challenging
>successive
>                         governments, leaving only one, the KNU, in armed
>opposition. The
>                         government continues to leave the door open to that
>group, which
>                         after four rounds of talks last year unilaterally
>ended the
>                         negotiation.
>
>                         With regard to the assertion that Aung San Suu Kyi
is a
>                         "democratically elected leader," I should like to
>put the record
>                         straight. Aung San Suu Kyi never was a candidate
>for the 1990
>                         elections, which were held to choose
>representatives to draft
>                         principles for a new constitution. In keeping with
>the election laws,
>                         which were established at the time of our
>independence from
>                         Britain, no citizen married to a foreigner is
>eligible to be a
>                         representative. Thus Aung San Suu Kyi -- who is
>married to
>                         Michael Aris, a British citizen, and who resided in
>Britain all her
>                         adult life, save for the two-year period prior to
>1990 -- was not
>                         eligible to stand for election.
>
>                         Given the findings of the considerable research
>carried out on
>                         sanctions, I find The Post's conclusion that
>"rarely has a nation
>                         been more deserving of economic sanction"
>contrived. First and
>                         foremost, the Clinton administration's decision
>smacks of hypocrisy
>                         coming as it does at a time when the president has
>not been able to
>                         act on analogous situations. It is unconvincing
>that Myanmar should
>                         stand so starkly apart from other regimes. The
>political systems of
>                         some of the United States' allies are not notable
>for their concern
>                         with individual liberties.
>
>                         Second, the chances that unilateral sanctions
>imposed by the
>                         United States would have a measurable impact on
>Myanmar are
>                         nil. Eighty percent of Myanmar's trade is with
>other Asian
>                         countries, and any void that the United States
>might leave in the
>                         wake of the sanctions would be quickly filled by
>Asian investors.
>
>                         It should be noted that unilateral sanctions are
>particularly
>                         ineffective. One need only look at U.S. policies
>toward Cuba, Iraq
>                         and Libya.
>
>                         It is time to question the wisdom of the current
>punitive stance
>                         toward Myanmar by members of Congress and the
>media. At a
>                         time when there is significant change and
>transformation in
>                         Myanmar, when it is opening its doors, creating
>opportunities for
>                         other countries to make a difference not only in
>the economic field
>                         but also in other spheres, it is important for the
>United States not to
>                         be influenced by the rhetoric of dissidents. The
>sooner the United
>                         States realizes this, the better its chanc\es of
>achieving progress on
>                         bilateral issues as well as in bringing about
>positive change in
>                         Myanmar.
>
>                         THAUNG TUN
>
>                         Minister-Counsellor
>
>                         Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
>
>                         Washington
>
>
>