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NEWS - No Response on Myanmar Junta
- Subject: NEWS - No Response on Myanmar Junta
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 19:01:00
Subject: NEWS - No Response on Myanmar Junta - Nld Talks
No Response on Myanmar Junta - Nld Talks
Reuters
10-JUL-99
YANGON, July 10 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling military has
yet to respond to an offer by the main opposition party
to
begin a low-level dialogue, an opposition leader said.
Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for
Democracy, told Reuters the military had said talks
between
the ruling State Peace and Development Council and the
opposition should start at a low level.
"We agree to that, but they haven''t given us any
response
yet," he said in an interview.
The government has insisted as a pre-condition to talks
that
the opposition renounce a committee it established to
represent a parliament elected in Myanmar''s last
election.
The NLD won the 1990 poll, but the military ignored the
result.
Asked if the committee would be dissolved to pave the way
for dialogue, Tin Oo said: "No, it was formed to work for
dialogue, so we can''t dissolve it."
He also said that NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi would have
to be included once talks reached a summit level.
The generals have long refused to talk with Suu Kyi, the
1991 Nobel Peace laureate who has been their most
formidable opponent since emerging as a dissident leader
at
the height of a pro-democracy uprising crushed by troops
in
1988.
Tin Oo said the political situation remained in a
stalemate
but an eventual dialogue involving the government, the
opposition and ethnic minority groups was inevitable.
"There
will be a dialogue -- nobody can avoid it," he said. "It
is the
solution.
"We are very optimistic about getting back our
(democratic)
legitimacy with the coming of the 21st century; we are
not
just waiting idly. The people are also very much in need
of a
great change."
Tin Oo said the visit by a fact-finding delegation from
the
European Union last week was a positive step.
"They came to listen, to hear, and assess, but didn''t
offer
anything or come back with new initiatives. No substance
has come out yet, but we welcome this kind of movement."
However, he said chances of former South African
president
Nelson Mandela acting as a mediator in Myanmar appeared
remote.
"The Mandela proposal has faded away," he said. "But as
long as somebody proposes something for reconciliation,
we
would welcome it."
Foreign Minister Win Aung poured cold-water over the idea
of foreign mediation when he told Reuters on Thursday
Myanmar could solve its own problems. He said Myanmar
had received no mediation offer from Mandela.
A South African diplomat told Reuters last month Mandela
would consider mediation if formally asked by the
opposition.
Tin Oo said the military continued to detain hundreds of
NLD
members, including at least 60 who won seats in the
election.
He rejected government allegations that the NLD backed
the
Karen National Union, an insurgent group that has fought
for
decades for greater autonomy from Yangon.
"We don''t support the KNU -- we are sympathetic to them
only," he said. "We don''t give any physical support to
them;
only moral support. Their demands also should be solved
at
the table."