U.N Asked To Intervene in Myanamar

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

U.N. Asked To Intervene in Myanmar

By TOM RAUM
 .c The Associated Press 

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Secretary of State Madeline Albright and her
Australian counterpart today asked U.N. chief Kofi Annan to become involved in
escalating tensions in Myanmar. ``He said he was going to take a very careful
look,'' Albright said. 

Albright and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer spoke after meeting
on a range of U.S.-Australian issues. Also participating were U.S. Defense
Secretary William Cohen and Australian Defense Minister Ian McLachlan. 

``Burma has moved further away from reconciliation and has increased its
isolation,'' Albright said, citing the standoff between the military regime
and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Albright and Downer both said conditions in Myanmar, also known as Burma, are
worsening and that the crisis extends beyond human rights issues. 

Downer raised the possibility that refugees from Myanmar soon may flock to
Thailand. 

``I know already that this is a concern of the Thai government. And there is
widespread concern in Asia. That was partly the argument that we made to the
secretary general,'' he said. 

Albright has sought to rally world opinion against the military regime and its
treatment of Suu Kyi, an opposition party leader and Nobel laureate. 

Government police on Wednesday forcibly returned Suu Kyi to her home in the
capital of Yangon, ending a six-day highway standoff. 

Albright on Thursday called the government's actions ``an unacceptable
violation of human rights.'' Today, she upped the ante further by trying to
get the United Nations involved. 

``We had a discussion with the secretary general telling him that we were very
concerned about the fact that it is difficult for diplomats on the ground to
be involved in some of he negotiating processes,'' Albright told a news
conference. 

Annan was urged ``to become personally involved in it. And he was very
interested in what we were telling him,'' Albright said. She said she and
Annan would talk more about the situation over the next few days, when they
both are back in the United States. 

``I think he joined our concern about the fact that the handling of her was so
inappropriate in terms of the way that one handles any citizen of a country,
much less the leader of an opposition (party). And he wanted to hear more from
us about what we knew.'' 

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won parliamentary elections in
1990 but never was allowed to take office because the government annulled the
vote. 

Albright declined to criticize the tactics of Suu Kyi, who has said she will
try again to leave the capital. Albright called her ``one of the most
hardworking and bravest people I have met in my public life'' who has turned
to such tactics because ``she has not found any satisfaction.'' 

The government has blocked her three times this month from leaving the
capital, saying she was trying to foment unrest. 

Meanwhile, Albright said that the United States was trying to resolve a
dispute with Australia over wheat exports to Indonesia. President Clinton's
announcement that he would provide free wheat to Indonesia as a humanitarian
gesture has angered Australian wheat farmers, who contend it will undercut
their sales. 

But Albright said, ``our programs are intended to feed hungry people,'' noting
that the Asian financial crisis and political turmoil in Indonesia has made
hunger there widespread. 

In an attempt to meet Australian concerns, Albright said that the United
States would do its best to make sure the wheat gets to those who are needy,
and does not distort markets. 

After delivery of 500,000 tons of wheat that Clinton had already promised
Indonesia, the government will hold off on another one million tons and
distribute it ``only if there is a need for it,'' Albright said. 

Defense Secretary Cohen told reporters the U.S.-Australian talks also dealt
with steps being taken to protect defense-related information against computer
theft and electronic espionage. He cited ``great vulnerabilities ... We are
spending a great deal of resources to protect that information.'' 

Downer, meanwhile, took a gentle swipe at the United States for not making
some $10 billion in back payments owed to the United Nations. ``It does make
it more difficult for America's friends that the United States does not pay
its bills to the United Nations,'' Downer said. 

The payments are being held up by the Republican-led Congress. 

AP-NY-07-31-98 0545EDT