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Myanmar Nixes Suu Kyi Meeting



Myanmar Nixes Suu Kyi Meeting

By JIM GOMEZ
 .c The Associated Press 

MANILA, Philippines (July-29AP) - Myanmar's military regime refused today to
allow U.S. and Japanese diplomats to meet with democracy campaigner Aung San
Suu Kyi, who was suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure on the
sixth day of a standoff at a police roadblock. 

``At this juncture the meeting is not urgently needed,'' Myanmar's foreign
minister, Ohn Gyaw, told reporters in the Philippine capital at the end of a
week of wide-ranging talks between world powers and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations. 

The talks ended today with a call by the ASEAN nations for more economic
support from the United States, Europe and other prosperous countries to help
solve the region's financial woes. 

That call seemed to have met more resistance than in the past, as Japan and
Western powers pressed the countries for more self-reliance in making
financial and political reform. 

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned that the financial crisis
``is not going to be resolved by aid alone.'' 

Regarding Myanmar, seven foreign ministers asked Ohn Gyaw on Tuesday to allow
the Japanese ambassador and the U.S. charges d'affaires in Myanmar to visit
Suu Kyi. 

The opposition leader, who has spent most of the past nine years under house
arrest or other confinement, was stopped on Friday as she traveled by car to
meet members of her party, the National League for Democracy. 

``Our proposal was quite a moderate one. This response is not satisfactory,
that is clear,'' the European Union representative, Foreign Minister Wolfgang
Schuessel of Austria, said after Ohn Gyaw's remarks. 

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters that another
attempt would be made today to get permission for Western diplomats to see Suu
Kyi. 

``Her doctor said her blood pressure is falling, and she's not so well,''
Downer said. 

Two of Suu Kyi's personal physicians examined her Tuesday in her white Toyota
sedan in Bassein, about 20 miles west of Myanmar's capital, Yangon, and said
she was suffering from dehydration. 

Suu Kyi's party added in a statement: ``The provisions in the car, water and
edibles, are nearly exhausted.'' 

The government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has accused Suu Kyi of staging
a publicity stunt. 

``We have our ways to deal with the impasse,'' Ohn Gyaw told the ASEAN news
conference. He said the government had brought food and water to the standoff
site and an ambulance was standing by. Suu Kyi's supporters have said she will
not use it. 

Albright, who left Manila this morning, said the United States would hold the
Myanmar military responsible for the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner's health
and safety. 

``Aung San Suu Kyi should be able to travel freely in her own country,''
Albright said earlier. 

While denying that her movements are officially restricted in any way, Myanmar
has not explained why it pulled Suu Kyi over last week for the third time this
month. On each occasion, she was seeking to meet with members of her party who
were elected to parliament in 1990 but were never allowed to take office
because the military regime annulled the ballot.