13/6/98:WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR

[uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

/* Written Mon 15 Jun 11:00am 1998 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* -------------" With a little help from our "--------------- */

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS,
LETTER TO U.N.SECRETARY GENERAL.
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Last Saturday (13/6) Adelaide City and Unley(Adelaide) Amnesty
International Groups have successfully held a Burma information
night and fund-raising event for AI named "ROAD TO MANDALAY". There
were guest speakers from both Amnesty International and Flinder 
University Political Science Department with interesting slide-photo 
show, of which the audience can feel what Burma is like.

The Burmese "Mohinga" was served on that night. My special thanks to
the dedications of the members of AI City and Unley Groups, who have
been able to prepare such authentic Burmese Food, of course, by the
instruction of The Adelaide's Most Famous Burmese Chef -- i.e. me.
More than 100 Guests seems to enjoy the Burmese "Mohinga"; many
thanks for showing their appreciation to the Chef. Thanks for our
friends in Sydney who are able to send "Sein Chit Tee" Burmese
orchestra music in time.

Letters to the U.N. Secretary-General(sample enclosed) and petition
to the SPDC/SLORC for the Burmese prisoners of conscience were
signed on that night. The event was closed with the reading of
excerpts from the famous writings of Aung San Suu Kyi
"FREEDOM FROM FEAR". Thank you to all the friends from AI who
have organized this wonderful event that help raised awareness
about Burma among local population. --- U Ne Oo.
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SAMPLE LETTER TO THE U.N.SECRETARY-GENERAL
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Amnesty International
1st Floor, Torrens Building
220 Victoria Square
Adelaide, South Australia 5000

13 June 1998

Mr Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary General
United Nations Headquarters
United Nations New York NY 10017
United States of America

Dear Secretary General,

Re worsening atricities in Shan State, Myanmar
----------------------------------------------
I am writing to call your attention to the worsening atricities
committed by the armed forces of the government of Myanmar in Shan
State in the eastern part of Myanmar. Amnesty International has
documented these human rights abuses in its recent report "Myanmar:
Atrocities in Shan State" (AI Index: ASA 16/07/98). The report
gives details about hundreds of people, primarily from Shan ethnic
minority groups, who have been killed by the Burmese army. The
report also gives information about the forcible relocation of at
least three hundred thousnad people in Shan State.

These atricities have occurred in the context of the Myanmar
government's counterinsurgency campaign against the Shan State Army,
an opposition group fighting against the government. The Myanmar
government has made regular use of forcible relocation of the
civilian population as a means of suppressing armed insurgency
throughout the country. These forcible relocations have been
accompanied by grave human rights violations, including
extrajudicial killings, fatal illtreatment, and forced labour and
portering. In spite of the fact that the Myanmar government
concluded ceasefire agreements with most of the rebel groups in
early 1996, fighting has continued in Shan State, and this has led
to the profound deterioration in the human rights situation in that
area.

One of the most disturbing of the human rights abuses has been the
killing of at least three hundred civllians by the Burmese army in a
series of massacres between mid-June and mid-July 1997. The massacre
are reported to have taken place in Kunhing township in central Shan
State. Because  independent human rights monitors -- including the
UN HUman Rights Special Rapporteur -- and journalists have been
denied access to these areas, the full scale of the tragedy cannot
be accurately calculated.

I appeal to you to press the Myanmar military government to grant
unrestricted access to Myanmar for the Special Rapporteur of Human
Rights for Myanmar, JUdge Rajsoomer Lallah. I call on teh United
Nations to pressure the government of Myanmar to improve the
country's worsening record on human rights. In particular, I ask
theat the Myanmar government be urged to put a stop to the practice
of forced  relocation of Shan ethnic minorities. The Special
Rapporteur should investigate all cases of extrajudicial executions
and bring to justice those found responsible.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Yours sincerely,

Name:___________________________

Address:________________________

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