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U.S., Australia Appeal to U.N's Ann



U.S., Australia appeal to U.N.'s Annan on Myanmar

By Carol Giacomo
SYDNEY, July 31 (Reuters) - The United States and Australia have asked U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan to personally intervene in Myanmar after military
authorities forced opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end a car sit-in,
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Friday. 

In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, Albright also kept the pressure on
Japan to make rapid economic reforms and said Cambodia's election may end in
another coalition government. 

She also expressed fresh concern about possible social unrest in Indonesia,
where the economy has been devastated by the Asian financial crisis and is
expected to worsen. 

On Myanmar, Albright said she and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
urged Annan to become ``personally involved'' in the effort to persuade the
country's military rulers to open a dialogue with Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy. 

Albright expressed concern that the political situation in Myanmar was
becoming more volatile and could destabilise the region. Downer also expressed
similar views at a subsequent press conference with the U.S. secretary of
state. 

Annan agreed to ``take a very careful look'' at the proposal and talk with the
two ministers again shortly, Albright said. 

Albright, in Sydney for annual U.S.-Australia security talks, said that while
the United States imposed sanctions on Myanmar, other countries were unlikely
to follow suit. 

``We think increasing international pressure .... and our pushing for a
dialogue is a way to proceed,'' she said. 

She envisioned Myanmar becoming ``increasingly isolated and the situation for
the people and therefore the government ... more difficult.'' 

Downer, meanwhile, told reporters: ``Our worry of Burma (Myanmar), over and
above the human rights concerns we have, is the implications for broader
security interests.'' 
  ``...if the situation there is going to deteriorate as we fear it might over
the next few weeks, this has implications for ... refugee movements ... There
is widespread concern in Asia,'' he said. 

Albright said she had learned more about how the regime handled Suu Kyi when a
military driver on Wednesday forcibly drove the Nobel Peace Prize winner back
to the capital Yangon. 

The junta thus ended six days in which Suu Kyi refused to move the car in
protest at the regime's restrictions on her ability to travel. 

Suu Kyi's situation ``was really not good in terms of what she was able to
have to eat and drink. She really was manhandled when she was taken back to
Rangoon (Yangon). We are very concerned about what has happened and consider
it unacceptable,'' Albright said. 

The Myanmar government said it had no choice but to return Suu Kyi to her home
because of her own physicians' advice and the failure of the doctors and top
National League for Democracy officials to persuade her to end the standoff. 

In the interview, Albright kept up pressure on Japan, saying new Prime
Minister Keizo Obuchi has only a short time to take steps needed to reform the
economy. 

``I think he knows that he doesn't have a great deal of time. We are going to
be watching very carefully,'' she said. 

She spoke hours after parliament confirmed Obuchi as Japan's new prime
minister. 

Albright and other senior officials, dismayed at what they see as Japan's
persistent inability to deal effectively with its economy, have repeatedly
urged Tokyo to enact a stimulus package, deregulate the economy and reform the
banking system. 

Japan, with the world's second largest economy, is seen as the key to recovery
from the Asian financial crisis. 

On Cambodia, Albright said the country may have to have a coalition government
if Prime Minister Hun Sen did not receive a majority in last Sunday's
election. 

``I think that if he does not have a majority there is going to have to be
some kind of a coalition,'' she said. 

She insisted it was too soon to say who won the election: ``The count is going
on. I think we have to let the process go forward and make sure that it's a
full count and not make projections on the basis of things we don't know
yet.'' 

Asked if international observers who had found the election to be ``free and
fair'' spoke too soon, she replied: ``Well that's their judgment ... We will
make our judgments according to the full count.'' 

Opposition leaders Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy have accused Hun
Sen of stealing the election, prompting Hun Sen to propose a three-way
coalition. 

Hun Sen and Ranariddh formed a coalition after the last election but Hun Sen
last year seized full power by force. Asked if that bodes ill for the future,
Albright said: ``Maybe they have learned some lessons from the past.'' 

In Indonesia, Albright said ``we are obviously concerned about the social
unrest'' and noted that half the population is living below the poverty level.

But she insisted ``we are doing everything we can to try to avoid that'' by
providing U.S. wheat, backing an International Monetary Fund loan programme
and urging the government to undertake reforms. 

08:00 07-31-98