Albright Wants U.N Role in Burma

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Albright Wants U.N. Role in Myanmar

By TOM RAUM
 .c The Associated Press 

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asked U.N.
chief Kofi Annan to intervene in the Myanmar crisis, saying the military
regime had ``increased its isolation'' by harsh treatment of Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Albright and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer suggested that
political tensions in the nation also known as Burma could escalate. 

``There is widespread concern in Asia,'' Downer said Friday at a news
conference with Albright after U.S.-Australian talks. 

Albright was heading to New Zealand on Saturday, her last stop in a 10-day
tour of Asia. 

Albright and Downer called Annan on Friday to make a direct appeal for
intervention in Myanmar. ``He said he was going to take a very careful look,''
Albright said. 

U.S. officials said they expect Annan to go along. 

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

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

Albright has sought to rally world opinion against the military regime and its
treatment of Suu Kyi, an opposition party leader and winner of the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize. 

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

``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. 

Albright said she urged Annan to get personally involved. Albright said she
plans further discussions when both she and Annan 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.'' 

Annan had already planned to send his envoy, the assistant secretary-general
for political affairs, Alvaro de Soto, to Myanmar this fall, possibly in
October. 

Those plans have not changed, said U.N. spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt. 

De Soto plans to discuss the human rights situation there with government
officials and will prepare a report. 

Annan will continue to keep watch over the situation, he said. 

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. 

On other issues, Albright said the United States hopes 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. 

``Our programs are intended to feed hungry people,'' Albright said, 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 the United States
will do its best to ensure that 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 William Cohen, who also attended the conference, said the
U.S.-Australian talks also dealt with efforts to protect defense-related
information against computer theft and electronic espionage. 

AP-NY-07-31-98 1347EDT