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NEWS- Junta Flouts Visit By Austral
- Subject: NEWS- Junta Flouts Visit By Austral
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1999 10:40:00
Subject: NEWS- Junta Flouts Visit By Australian Rights Miinister
NOTE: Just as predicted, the military regime, the illegal unelected
government tried to take full advantage of this visit to cover up their
true situation.
Junta Flouts Visit By Australian Rights Miinister
Reuters
04-AUG-99
YANGON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government
on Wednesday hailed a visit by Australia's human rights
commissioner, saying it would bring "better understanding
and cooperation" on rights.
Chris Sidoti earlier wound up a three-day visit to look
at the
feasibility of a human rights commission for Myanmar
after
meeting several senior government officials and the vice
chairman of the opposition National League for Democracy,
Tin Oo.
He did not, however, meet NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
who, according to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer, has expressed doubts that any commission would
be independent.
A spokesman for the generals, who took power in 1988 by
bloodily crushing a nationwide pro-democracy uprising
then
ignored an election result two years later when the NLD
won
by a huge margin, called Sidoti's visit "fruitful and
successful."
"The government feels these talks are helpful and will
help
its citizens enjoy their rights and also learn to accept
responsibilities as well as obligations in maintaining a
stable
and responsible community as the nation makes its
systemic
transition to democracy."
Australia's ambassador to Yangon, Lyndall McLean, said
the
visit had been a good one but declined to say why Sidoti
did
not meet Suu Kyi or make any further comment ahead of a
news conference Sidoti plans in Sydney on Thursday.
The commission envisaged would be a along the lines of
those in the seven-member Asia Pacific Forum of National
Human Rights Institutions, of which Australia is a
member.
Such a commission was set up during Indonesia's Suharto
regime in the early 1990s, under mounting pressure at
home
and abroad.
Sidoti's mission was just the latest foreign initiative
aimed at
progress on rights in Myanmar.
However, as it began on Monday, official media dampened
hopes for a softening of treatment of the pro-democracy
opposition by accusing Suu Kyi of "brazenly spoiling
peace"
and calling for legal action against her.
Military treatment of Suu Kyi's party has prompted U.S.
and
EU sanctions and been an embarrassment for Yangon's
fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.
Last month an EU mission visited Myanmar to look into the
possibility of restoring a dialogue with the government
and
between the generals and the opposition, but Yangon
quickly poured cold water on reconciliation hopes.