UN envoy meets Myanmar Junta, Suu K

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Subject: UN envoy meets Myanmar Junta, Suu Kyi

UN envoy meets Myanmar junta leadership, Suu Kyi

Singapore, May 10.	

The Visit of UN special envoy, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, an Assistant
Secretary General, to Myanmar, is an event by itself. That he met with
both the military leadership and pro-democracy leader, Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi, during his brief visit, is another success achieved.

Mr. de Soto, who has not been able to visit to Yangon for some time, has
chosen to visit the country at a critical juncture, when the military
junta is in a rebellious mood, brushing aside U.N and Western criticism
of its human rights record.

Whether he has able to able to achieve anything in this visit is still
not known, because nobody in the region expects any change of heart on
the part of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). 

According to sources in Yangon, the Foreign Minister, Mr. Ohn Gyaw,
during his meeting with Mr. de Soto, maintained the Government line that
there were no violations of human rights in Myanmar and Western
criticism and recent UN Human Rights Commission resolution on the
'so-called' violations were only an attempt to " interfere in the
internal affairs" of the country. SLORC has also taken the view that the
recent US sanctions on Myanmar is but another attempt to interfere in
domestic politics.

The source said the meeting with Ms. Suu Kyi took place at the UNDP
office in Yangon. The Nobel laureate took the opportunity to give her
side of the picture. Accompanied by other colleagues from her National
League for Democracy, Ms. Suu Kyi detailed the growing story of '
repression' under the military junta. Apart from the continued problem
of force labour, she took some time to explain the repeated crackdowns
on political activists and her supporters.

NLD sources said that they utilized the opportunity to mention the
crushing of a student protest and the virtual house arrest of their
leader, who was not allowed to travel and people were not allowed to
meet her. " We have made it clear to the UN envoy that the conditions in
Burma are not just repressive but further deteriorating. Ms. Suu Kyi has
explained that the economic policy adopted by the SLORC has helped only
a few influential businessman to become richer, while a majority of the
Burmese remain poor", the party functionaries explained.

They argued that the repression in the country worsened after it was
made and observer of ASEAN last year and feared that full membership of
the Southeast Asian group would provide more legitimacy and a handle to
the military dictators to tighten the noose around all democratic and
political groups. They wanted the international community to step up its
efforts to get the junta to open a dialogue for the restoration of
democracy.

On its part, military rulers tended to blame Ms. Suu Kyi for all the
problems they and the country were facing. They blamed her for the
student unrest, they held her responsible for the failure or break down
of talk with the rebel Karens and dubbed her a 'traitor' for demanding
sanctions and influencing the US to impose them last month.

While the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting at the end of month in Kuala
Lumpur, the pressure from both sides increasing on the member States
over the question of admitting  Myanmar.

But Asean sources said they were more concerned about the political
developments and the problems in Cambodia, than Myanmer. " Because of
the break down of communication between the two ruling parties in Phnom
Penh, we are told that a  clutch of  legislative amendments to enable
Cambodia to qualify for joining ASEAN has not been passed. We have been
told that some understanding has been reached this week at the Cabinet
meeting and hope it will translate into cooperation in the National
Assembly to pass these pending amendments on tariff lines", they added.

By V. Jayanth
The Hindu, Sunday , May 11, 1997.