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Reuter: Avoid Investing for Burma's



  Suu Kyi Urges Investors to Avoid Myanmar - Report

    Reuters, Thursday, March 19, 1998 at 22:26

    NEW YORK, March 19 (Reuters) - Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has 
urged companies to avoid investing in Myanmar(Burma) because it props up 
the ruling military regime, according to an interview in BusinessWeek.
    "We do not think investment at this time really helps the people of 
Burma," Suu Kyi said in the interview, published in magazine's March 30 
issue. "It provides the military regime with a psychological boost."
    The Nobel peace prize winner also said the United States should not 
soften its sanctions against the regime.
    "We very much appreciate the U.S. sanctions because they have been a 
tremendous psychological boost for the democracy movement, and also they 
have made businesses think carefully about what is really going on in 
Burma," she was quoted as saying.
    The United States last year imposed economic sanctions banning new 
American investment in Myanmar because of Yangon's record of human rights 
abuses and its failure to recognize the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi.
    Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide 
victory in 1990 elections but the result was not recognized. She was 
released from six years of house arrest only in 1995.
    Companies such as Motorola Inc, Levi Strauss and PepsiCo Inc have 
stopped operations in Myanmar. Unocal is one of the few U.S. companies 
that have remained.
     "We want investment to be at the right time -- when the benefits 
will go to the people of Burma, not just to a small, select elite 
connected to the government," Suu Kyi said in the interview.
     Suu Kyi said the current economic situation in Myanmar was "very 
bad," with rising prices, not much new investment and a poor rice harvest.
    The NLD and the government are in a political stalemate after the NLD 
refused to take part in any talks without Suu Kyi, although some 
diplomats say discussions are going on at lower levels.
    In response to a question about resolving the impasse, Suu Kyi said, 
"Everything has to start with dialogue. If anyone is interested in 
power-sharing, they can put it forward in the process of dialogue. We 
have said, with regard to dialogue, we are prepared to discuss anything."

                    Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service