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AFP-Myanmar Liar says talks offer w



Subject: AFP-Myanmar Liar says talks offer with Aung San Suu Kyi open

Myanmar minister says talks offer with Aung San Suu Kyi open
DHAKA, July 17 (AFP) - Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said here Saturday
his country's junta was ready to talk with opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, but first she had to stop attacking the government.
"The offer for dialogue with her is still there, but first accusations and
criticisms must stop," he told reporters at Dhaka airport on arrival for a
three-day visit to neighbouring Bangladesh.

"There is also the need for building confidence and the establishment of
ground for a dialogue."

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracyhas
said it is ready to sit down with junta officials but claims the government
refuses to negotiate with her.

The official media in Myanmar has often accused Aung San Suu Kyi of being an
instrument of foreign powers, but the NLD insists any delegation it sends to
meet the government must be led by her.

The NLD swept elections held in Myanmar in 1990 but the junta has refused to
recognise the result.

The government has said talks cannot take place unless the NLD disbands an
interim parliamentary committee it set up last year.

Hundreds of NLD supporters, including scores of MPs, have been imprisoned or
detained since the committee representing the "people's parliament" was set
up in August.

Win Aung and his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdus Samad Azad held two hours of
talks Saturday during which they discussed the setting-up of a joint
commission to solve bilateral problems.

"We are considering to set up a joint-commission to tackle bilateral issues
 ... where two countries share a common border there can be problems, but we
will try to solve them," Win Aung told reporters after emerging from the
talks.

"Patience and will are essential to solve any problem."

On the fate of more than 21,000 Moslem Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh known
as Rohingyas, the minister said "we have already taken back more than
200,000 and if you rush there can be problems."

Azad added the issue was "not big but technical and we have urged for early
repatriation of the agreed 7,000 refugees."

The Rohingyas fled their homes in Myanmar's Arakan province in 1991 alleging
repression and human rights violations, charges denied by the military

government in Yangon.

Most were repatriated under a 1991 agreement, followed by a second one in
1993 between the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and Myanmar
authorities.

Some 230,000 were repatriated but the UNHCR process has stalled due to
refugee protests and a funding crisis.

At least 21,000 remain in two camps in southeastern Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar
district.

Trade and other issues were also discussed.

Win Aung was to hold talks Sunday with President Shahabuddin Ahmed and Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed.