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21/9/98: LETTER TO HON.DIDIER, PRES



/* Written Tue 22 Sep 6:00am 1998 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx
in igc:reg.burma & maykha-l */
/* ----------"Letter to the President of
UNGA'98"------------- */

LETTER TO HON.DIDIER OPERTTI(URUGUAY)
THE PRESIDENT OF 53RD SESSION OF UNGA
*************************************

Dr U Ne Oo
18 Shannon Place
Adelaide SA 5000
Australia.

21st September 1998.

Hon. Didier Opertti(Uruguay)
President, 53rd Session
United Nations General Assembly
UN Headquarters, New York NY 10017
United States of America.

Dear Hon. President:

I am a Burmese national currently residing in Australia.
I callyour attention to recent arrest and detention of
elected members of parliament by Burma's ruling military
council, State Peace and Development Council(SPDC:
formerly known as State Law and Order Restoration
Council), and, also, the lack of progress towards
transfer of power to the democratically elected
government. The ruling military council, SPDC, also
fails--especially in this year --to cooperate with
United Nations to improve its human rights records. The
United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) since 1992 has
been urging, through its resolutions, the military
council in Burma to improve its human rights record and
also to transfer power to democratically elected
government. I therefore urge the 53rd Session of UN
General Assembly to take appropriate measures to ensure
Burma's military authorities comply with UNGeneral
Assembly Resolutions, A/52/137.

 Beginning from early this month, the military council
unlawfully detain nearly 800 opposition party members
and supporters,including 195 members of parliament
elected in May 1990 General Election. These arrests on
opposition members are made in order to prevent the
elected members from convening the parliament. It should
be noted that the military council unlawfully arresting
the elected members of parliament to prevent
participating in such political process constitute
Burmese military violation of the Operative
paragraphs(5), (8)and(11) of UNGA Resolution A/52/137.

 Particularly in this year, the military junta has been
refusing to cooperate with UN Secretary-General. For
example, the Special Envoy of Secretary-General, Mr
Alvaro de Soto, had been told off last January by
military authorities not to interfere the "internal
affairs" of Burma. Recently in August, the military
junta refuses to accept the visit of Secretary-General's
personal emissary, Ambassador Razali Ismil of Malaysia
and the President of 51st UN General Assembly. The
Burmese military authorities since 1996 do not allow the
Human Rights Special Rapporteur, Mr Rajsoomer Lallah, to
visit Burma. It should be noted that these
non-cooperations of ruling Burmese military council to
United Nations System constitute that council, SPDC, not
complying
in particular of the Operative paragraphs (1),(7)and(13)
of UNGA Resolution A/52/137.

Most disturbing point of all is that the Burmese
military council has not been taking any step towards
reconciliation and substantive dialogue with the
opposition party, National League for Democracy (NLD).
Despite the arrest of and intimidation on its members
and supporters by Burmese military authorities, the NLD
has always been making effort to secure dialogue with
the military junta. During July, Burmese military 
Authorities preventing the General Secretary of NLD, Daw
Aung Suu Kyi, from visiting to her party members. This
restriction along with recent detention of 195 elected
members of parliament constitute Burmese military junta
denying to provide the leaders of NLD party unrestricted
communication with and physical access to the party
supporters. These violation, again, are the Burmese
military council's failure to comply with the Operative
Paragraphs(4)and(6) of the UNGA Resolution A/52/137.

 Notwithstanding such restriction and intimidation by
ruling military council, I like to inform Hon. President
and the members of United Nations General Assembly that,
a committee to represent elected members of parliament
has been formed on 17 September 1998 in accordance with
a proper democratic procedure. The committee has the
mandate of democratically elected parliament as it is
having the endorsement of
the majority of representatives and also enjoy the
support by ethnic minority rebel groups.

 I believe this is an appropriate time for UN General
Assembly and UN System to ensure the military government
of Burma comply with the UNGA Resolutions. Furthermore,
UNGA should make efforts to encourage parties to the
conflict in Burma moving towards dialogue and
reconciliation. As a first practical step, this 53rd
Session of UN General Assembly must demand the Burmese
military council appointed representative, U Ohn Gyaw,
to have endorsement of democratically elected
parliament. In the event of State Peace and Development
Council fails to secure U Ohn Gyaw's appointment as a
Burma's Foreign Minister by democratically elected
parliament, the United Nations General Assembly should
refuse to give the floor to that Foreign Minister.

 In closing, I thank you for your kind attention
to this matter.

Yours respectfully and sincerely,
(Sd.U NE OO)
Copy to:

1. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
Headquarters,
New York NY 10017, U.S.A.

2. Hon.Madeleine K Albright, US Secretary of State, US
Department of State, Washington DC 20520, USA.

3. Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,

c/-UN Centre for Human Rights, Palias des Nations,
CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

/* Endreport */