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NEWS- 'Myanmar not used by insurgen



Subject: NEWS- 'Myanmar not used by insurgent movements' 

'Myanmar not used by insurgent movements' 

                     By V.S.Sambandan 

                     COLOMBO, JULY 15. The Myanmarese Minister for
Foreign Affairs, Mr.U Win Aung, today
                     said there were no indications of his country being
used by insurgent movements in Sri
                     Lanka and the North East of India for transshipment
of arms. 

                     At a press conference here, the Foreign Minister,
who was on his ``first leg'' of
                     familiarisation visits in the South Asian region,
said his Government did not have any
                     information on cross-border movement of arms to
fuel the North East insurgents. He also
                     said ``we do not have any LTTE operations from our
country.'' 

                     The Minister, who is on his first visit to Sri
Lanka after assuming office, met the Acting
                     Foreign Minister, Mr. Lakshman Kiriella. He said
the matter of illegal movement of arms in
                     the region was discussed with Mr. Kiriella today.
The source of origin for these arms, he
                     said, were not from his country, ``but from the
region''. However, he refused to be drawn
                     into naming the countries. 

                     Asked if a regional approach would be pressed for
in countering illegal arms movement, he
                     said, ``exchange of information'' was a crucial
component, and that he would be keen on
                     receiving information regarding arms originating
from Myanmar. 

                     On the support for the Indian North East insurgents
from across the border, Mr. Aung
                     reiterated his country's policy of non-
interference. However, ``there are as many as 17
                     armed groups'' in Myanmar, he said, adding that
``we are not co-opting them'' into the
                     mainstream. Myanmar, he said would never
``interfere in anybody's affairs'' and that it was
                     their policy ``not to support any formation which
opposes Central Governments of
                     neighbouring countries.'' 

                     He said the problems faced by Myanmar were much
more complex than those faced by Sri

                     Lanka. The present ``interim Government'', he said
was required to ensure that democracy
                     took proper roots in the nation. Regarding the
moves towards making peace with the
                     insurgent groups, he said 17 of the 18 groups were
brought to the mainstream. 

                     ``We do not depend on the unconditional surrender
of arms,'' he said, adding that the
                     groups which joined the mainstream were treated
with ``mutual respect and trust.'' 

                     On what he termed ``western distortions'' of the
situation in Myanmar, the Minister said,
                     ``we are not anti-democracy, we are not anti-human
rights.'' Rather, the country was
                     ``trying to build a nation with democratic norms
and systems.'' 

                     Stressing the importance of ``democracy with
stability'', the Minister, who had served in
                     various capacities in the army and the defence
ministry prior to his assignments as a
                     diplomat, said, in the absence of stability the
``rule of law will perish.'' ``That is why we
                     need time,'' he said, adding, ``we are trying hard
to make our country a strong democratic
                     nation.'' 

                     Mr. Aung would visit Dhaka after his Sri Lankan
visit and resume his visits to other nations
                     after the coming ASEAN meeting. 


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