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12.1.98/AAP NEWS/AUSTRALIA TO GIVE



AAP(AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS) NEWS

12/01/98 AUST GOVT PLEDGES ADDITIONAL A$1 MLN AID TO BURMESE REFUGEES
14/01/98 GEN.SEIN AUNG, A FOUNDER OF BURMA'S MILITARY JUNTA DIES
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        FED: GOVT PLEDGES ADDITIONAL A$1 MLN AID TO BURMESE REFUGEES
AID BURMA (CANBERRA)
   The federal government will give an extral $1 million to Burmese 
refugees in camps on the Thailand-Burma border for food, mosquito 
nets, firewood, blankets and basic health care.
           Foreign Affairs Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER says the Australian 
government is conscious of the burdens placed on Thailand by the 
Burmese refugee presence.
           Mr DOWNER says the underlying cause of the refugee problem is 
the failure of Burma's military government to improve the 
observance of human rights inside Burma.
           He says Australia will encourage Thailand to continue to allow 
civilian refugees from Burma to remain in the camps while it's 
unsafe for them to return to their homeland.
           AAP RTV st/rt


        ASIA: FOUNDER OF BURMA'S MILITARY JUNTA DIES
BURMA GENERAL
   BANGKOK, Jan 14 AFP - A former minister and founding member of 
Burma's military government has died of cancer in a Rangoon 
hospital, a Burmese military official said today.
           Lieutenant-General Sein Aung, who was one of the original 
members of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) when 
it was formed 10 years ago, died of colon cancer on January 9, the 
official said.
           The 68-year-old veteran soldier lost his last formal position on 
December 10 last year when the advisory body - to which he had been 
relegated when the SLORC was disbanded a month earlier - was 
dissolved.
           A Burmese student opposition group based here said in a 
statement that Sein Aung, while "not included in the arrests of 
former generals on charges of corruption, was being watched by 
military intelligence personnel".
           The All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) was referring to 
several top generals who were put under virtual house arrest 
shortly after SLORC was dissolved amid reported allegations of 
official corruption.

           But the military official in Rangoon denied reports that Sein 
Aung was "under investigation" by authorities.
           A source in Rangoon said the general's official obituary had 
appeared in the Rangoon papers, but noted that "it is a little 
surprising that there was no mention of the fact that he was a 
senior minister".
           The official passage reportedly only included Sein Aung's 
military rank when describing his life.
           The All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) also said Sein 
Aung had been head of the junta's Special Operations Bureau before 
a student uprising in 1988 which ended in a bloody crackdown on 
pro-democracy protesters.
           He then became one of the founding members of the SLORC when it 
was formed in September 1988 and was named head of both the 
country's industry ministries.
           He was later appointed minister of one of the industry branches 
after a ministerial reshuffle in January 1992.
           Sein Aung remained a member of the junta until November, when 
the SLORC was dissolved to become the State Peace and Development 
Council (SPDC) in an apparent attempt at official window-dressing.
           He left his final post when the advisory body - to which 14 
senior generals were appointed on the dissolution of the SLORC in 

an apparent move to sideline them - was abolished.
           Sein Aung entered the military in 1950 and served as a commander 
of a division in the north-east of the country.
           AFP gl
****