Burmese News in Asian Age

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         DHAKA SAYS NO TO BURMA REFUGEES
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Dhaka,  July 31:A Bangladesh minister on Thursday ruled out
allowing Burmese Muslims to settle in Bangladesh,  but said
refugees  would not be forcibly  repatriated.  "There is no
scope  of  any  permanent  settlement  of  the  refugees in
Bangladesh.   They will  be sent home,   but definitely not
forcibly,"foreign  minister  Abdus  Samad  Azad  said.  The
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had suggested
that  some refugees should be allowed to stay in Bangladesh
because  they  faced  Persecution at  home.   Mr  Azad said
Bangladesh  is too poor to host  as many as 21,000 refugees
who  are  living  in  camps  along  the  country's southern
frontier  with Burma.   They are  the last  of some 250,000
Burmese Muslims, known as Rohingyas, who fled to Bangladesh
in  1991-92,   complaining  of harassment  by  the military
junta, which is predominantly Buddhist. Most have been sent
home   under  a   Bangladesh  -Burma   repatriation  accord
supervised  by the  UNHCR.  A  round of  repatriations that
began on July 20 had to be suspended after refugees refused
to return, citing human rights violation in Burma. The UNHCR
had  earlier accused Bangladesh of  forcing 400 refugees to
leave.  Bangladesh later Issued a written pledge not to use
force, and said it would "persuade" the Rohingyas to return
voluntarily.(AP)


EXILED BURMA GOVERNMENT MEETS

Copenhagen, July 31: The exiled Burmese government held six
days  of secret  talks here  to discuss  strategy following
Burma's  admission this month into the Association of South
East Asian Nations, a statement said on Wednesday. The nine
ministers  and four senior advisers,   who live in exile in
India, Thailand and the United States, were meeting for the
first time in two years. "When Asean accepts Burma into its
midst,   it  is  responsible for  the  consequences  of the
actions of the generals in our country",  exiled government
also   signed  a  protest   petition  against  five  Danish
companies  (Oek, Dalhoff, Larsen HOrneman, APV pasillac and
FLS  Industries)  who have  invested in  or are  seeking to
invest  in Burma.  As the meeting ended,  all the ministers
left  Denmark for  security reasons  with the  exception of
Mr.Sein  Win,  who was scheduled to give a press conference
on Thursday in Copenhagen.

The   Danish   Burma   Committee  was   set   up  1992.(AP)

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