The BurmaNet News: March 26, 1999

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"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: March 26, 1999
Issue #1286

HEADLINES:
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REUTERS: SUU KYI WON'T DISCUSS DYING HUSBAND 
BBC: ARAKAN REBELS FEAR DEPORTATION 
XINHUA: NEW BRIDGE OPENED IN MYANMAR 
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Reuters: Myanmar's Suu Kyi Won't Discuss Dying Husband
24 March, 1999 

YANGON, March 24 (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is
very upset about the condition of her gravely ill British husband but has
declined to talk about him publicly, her close aides said on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi had also vowed to stay put in Yangon, fearing that if she went to
Britain to see her cancer-stricken husband, Michael Aris, she might not be
allowed to return to Myanmar, they told Reuters.

"She is very upset this week after learning on Monday that his condition
had worsened," said one aide. "She said she does not want to talk about her
personal affairs as many people suffer the loss of family and loved ones in
Burma (Myanmar) all the time."

Family sources say that Aris, 52, an Oxford academic who has been denied a
Myanmar visa for the past three years, is dying from prostate cancer that
has spread to his spine and lungs.

Aris has requested a visa to travel to Yangon to see Suu Kyi, but Myanmar's
military government has said Suu Kyi, who is in good health, should visit
her terminally ill husband instead.

Yangon has said it is reviewing Aris's visa request, but argues Myanmar
lacks proper medical facilities to treat him.

The military has long sought to get Suu Kyi, the biggest thorn in its side
for a decade, out of Myanmar.

Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy party, has not left
Myanmar for the past 11 years, fearing she may not be allowed back if she did.

Suu Kyi's aides said that she had vowed to remain in Yangon even though her
husband was dying. This was because the couple had made an agreement in the
past that if she was forced to return to Myanmar to serve her country she
would do so.

"She is basically sticking to that agreement," the aide said. "Suu Kyi is
also upset that her telephone contacts with the outside world have been
tampered with."

One aide said that when her telephone rang she would be allowed to answer
it but soon after some words were spoken the line would be cut by the
authorities.

"This has happened even when her husband has tried to call and talk to her.
People around her say this is very cruel," the aide added.

The aides also said that Suu Kyi had won much sympathy for her current
dilemma from members of the public. Some poets were even writing poems
about her plight.

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BBC: ARAKAN REBELS FEAR DEPORTATION
24 March, 1999 

A spokesman for a group of more than seventy Burmese Arakan rebels jailed
in India says he fears they will be extradited to Rangoon, and could face
execution by the military authorities there.


The spokesman, Ahin Maung of the National Unity Party of Arakan said the
rebels were arrested in the Andaman Islands last year, and accused of
smuggling guns to rebels in India's north-eastern states.

Ahin Maung said the guns were intended for their colleagues in Arakan,
where guerrillas are continuing their armed campaign against Burmese rule.

Ahin Maung said India had been allowing them to use the Andaman Islands
which belong to India as a safe haven since 1995, in return for giving
India intelligence information on Chinese naval activity around the Burmese
coast.

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XINHUA: NEW BRIDGE ACROSS GYAING RIVER OPENED IN MYANMAR
24 March, 1999 

YANGON (March 25) XINHUA - A new bridge across Myanmar's Gyaing River
linking the country's southeastern Kayin and Mon states was put into
service Wednesday to facilitate transport in the region, official newspaper
The New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

The Gyaing River Bridge, also known as the Zathabyin, is the longest
suspension bridge in the country connecting Hpa-an, capital of Kayin state,
and Mawlamyine, capital of Mon state, and having 579.5 metros long and 7.32
metros wide capable to bear 45 tons of load.

The construction of the bridge began in June 1996 and completed last month
at a cost of 4.96 million U.S. dollars plus 1.2 billion kyats (4 million
dollars).

Regional people, who had to use Hpa-an-Mawlamyine waterway taking a
four-hour journey between the two states in the past, can now easily travel
in an hour more using the bridge.

At the inauguration ceremony of the bridge, Lieutenant-General Tin Oo,
second secretary of the Myanmar State peace and Development Council, said
that the government is building the network to ease transport between
states and divisions which lag progress.

Another bridge across Gyaing River, the Kawkareik, will be opened soon and
cross border trade with Thailand will prosper after completion of the
bridge, he said.

Since late 1988, three bridges across the country's Thanlwin River have
been built. These are Takaw-ek Bridge in northern Shan state, Hpa-an Bridge
in Kayin state and Tasan Bridge in southeastern Shan state.

Myanmar also implemented six other major bridge projects across the
country's Ayeyawaddy River since then. Of these, four have been completed
which are the Myaungmya, Nawahtay, Maubin and Bala Minhtin.
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