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SLORC wants press kept from Daw Au



Subject: SLORC  wants press kept from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Burma Wants Press Kept From Suu Kyi 

By ROBERT HORN 
Associated Press Writer 
Thursday, May 15, 1997 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Burma's military junta  have asked the Thai 
government to bar Thai reporters from meeting with democracy leader Daw Aung 
San Suu Kyi, Thai officials said today. 
About 15 Thai journalists will accompany Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh 
when he travels to Burma to confer with leading members of that country's 
military  junta Friday and Saturday. 
The Burmese regime has been tightening restrictions on, and denying visas to, 
most foreign journalists to prevent them from trying to interview Daw  Suu 
Kyi. 
The generals are keeping the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize-winner in a state of 
near-house arrest, with military roadblocks around her home preventing most 
supporters from reaching her. 
Chavalit has billed himself as a friend of Burma's generals who can use his 
close ties to try to expose them to international norms of behavior and help 
moderate their repressive tactics. 
Burmese democracy activists and human rights groups charge, however, that in 
his rush to help Thai companies that want to do business in Burma, Chavalit 
has backed the military government's policies. 
Thai government spokesmen refused to comment on the Burmese request, calling 
it ``a very sensitive matter.'' 
A Thai diplomat, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said, however, that 
Burma's Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the request to its Thai counterpart 
while preparations for the trip were being arranged. 
He said that it was the government's duty to inform the local journalists of 
the Burmese request. The government would advise them that although Thailand 
has a tradition of press freedom, they were visiting a country that did not, 
the diplomat said. 
However, because Thailand observes freedom of the press, the government was 
not in a position to bar them from attempting to meet Daw Suu Kyi, he said. 
He added that a Burmese liaison officer would be posted with the news corps. 
Thai journalists who accompanied former Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa to 
Burma in 1996 complained that Burmese intelligence officers prevented them 
from leaving their hotels unescorted.