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SLORC wants press kept from Daw Au
- Subject: SLORC wants press kept from Daw Au
- From: ausgeo@xxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 19:23:00
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.