AFP-German FM blasts Myanmar junta

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German FM blasts Myanmar junta for blocking opposition leader
Fri 14 Aug 98 - 17:52 GMT 

BONN, Aug 14 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta was "again trampling human rights and
democracy" by blocking opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from travelling
freely, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said Friday.

"The (junta) generals will be held responsible for the health" of Aung San
Suu Kyi, he said in a statement.

"I urge the Yangon government: put an end to your policy of repression
which, for years, has shown contempt for human rights and ruined your
country. Put an end to your international isolation," Kinkel said.

Aung San Suu Kyi had passed two days in a mini-van on a rural highway near
Yangon, blocked from visiting supporters in the second such standoff with
Myanmar's military authorities in little over a month.

A junta spokesman has said an ambulance was at the site and security
personnel had been deployed to protect her.

Washington and Britain on Thursday warned the junta to ensure she was
looked after and called for the two sides to hold talks.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD),
the party which overwhelmingly won 1990 elections but which remains in
opposition because of the junta's refusal to relinquish power.

The NLD has set the junta an August 21 deadline for convening parliament or
face unspecified consequences.

Kinkel appealed to the junta to recognise the NLD's election win and to
"hold dialogue with the democratic opposition, including with Aung San Suu
Kyi and the representatives of ethnic minorities."

He also urged the military regime "to revoke its refusal to talk" with
former UN general assembly president Razali Ismail, who UN chief Kofi Annan
has proposed as a special UN envoy to Yangon.