[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
AFP : Philippine leader condoles de
- Subject: AFP : Philippine leader condoles de
- From: euburma@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 22:05:00
Subject: AFP : Philippine leader condoles death of Dr. Michael aris
Philippine leader condoles death of Aung San Suu Kyi's husband
MANILA, March 29 (AFP) - Philippine President Joseph Estrada said Monday
that the Yangon junta missed a "confidence building step" by effectively
refusing to allow a final meeting between Myanmar opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and her husband before his death.
Estrada offered condolences to Aung San Suu Kyi and her family over the
death on Saturday in London of her British husband, Michael Aris, an official
statement said.
It disclosed that before Aris' death, Manila had been "making quiet
representations with the government of Myanmar for the issuance of a visa to
Dr. Aris as a compassionate and humanitarian gesture."
Estrada said "we regret that Dr. Aris' wish to visit his wife, Daw Augn
San
Suu Kyi, whom he had not seen for years, was not fulfilled."
He said the Philippines "also expresses its regrets for the missed
opportunity of a confidence building step that could have transpired" if the
junta had allowed Aris to meet his wife a final time.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the struggle
for democracy in Myanmar, had refused to leave for London to be with her
dying
husband, fearing the junta would not allow her back.
The junta effectively denied Aris a visa to visit his wife in Yangon one
last time before he died, saying he was unfit to travel and would be a burden
on Myanmar's limited medical facilities.