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Burma News Update, No. 92 (r)



Open Society Institute
The Burma Project

Burma News Update No. 92
09 September


UN Mission Postponed

A visit to Burma by United Nations Under-Secretary General 
Alvaro DeSoto was postponed at the last minute on Tuesday, 
07 September, by Burma's army junta, according to UN sources 
in New York. Representatives of the military regime informed the 
UN that the timing of Mr. De Soto's visit was no longer feasible, 
but the visit may be rescheduled for later this year.  The UN 
mission was meant to discuss human rights violations and 
democratic reform in Burma-Ed.


"Four Nines" Anxiety

In Burma's capital, Rangoon, extra troops are deployed at 
temples and official buildings, tea shops and restaurants 
have been ordered shuttered, and hundreds of people were 
reportedly detained as 09 September 1999 approached. The 
"Four Nines" date is considered highly auspicious by many 
Burmese adherents of numerology, and some opposition 
groups have called for national protests against military rule 
to mark the day. The "Four-Nines" date has also been linked to 
the "Four-Eights" national uprising against dictatorship of 08 
August 1988. A junta official threatened "severe and effective 
action" against anyone "disturbing the peace," charging that 
"subversive elements," backed by Western media including the 
"Voice of America, the "British Broadcasting Corporation," and 
"Radio Free Asia," are seeking to instigate unrest.

"BBC World Service"; Rangoon, "Xinhua News Agency," 
06 September



Press Boycott Urged

A Burmese opposition group has called for a public 
boycott of state newspapers as part of a civil 
disobedience campaign against military rule. In a 
statement released to journalists in Bangkok, the 
All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) 
charged that tightly-controlled state newspapers are 
"a waste of precious financial resources," and "urged 
people not to buy, not to read and to tear up these 
newspapers in support of the call for popular action 
on 9-9-99." [Burma's media is among the world's most 
highly-repressed. There is no free press, and the 
small privately-owned publications face intensive 
scrutiny and censorship by the military regime-Ed.]

Bangkok, "Deutsche Presse-Agentur"; 07 September


Britons Jailed

A British women was arrested in Burma's capital, 
Rangoon, on 07 September, after shouting pro-democracy 
on a downtown street. The women, identified as 28-year 
old Rachael Goldwyn, reportedly urged onlookers 
join pro-democracy actions, and also shouted 
demands for the release of another British citizen, 
James Mawdsley, who was sentenced last week 
to 17 years in prison for possessing pro-democracy literature 
in Burma.

Rangoon, "Kyodo News Service" 08 September



Tourist Visa Blocked

The Burmese embassy in Thailand is refusing to issue 
tourist visas to individual travelers planning to visit 
Burma around 09 September, a date many Burmese 
consider auspicious and on which some opponents of 
the country's army junta have urged a national uprising 
against military rule. A Burmese embassy official in 
Bangkok said the visa ban is a "temporary measure" which 
would be in effect "until further notice". [The Eagle Group, 
one of Burma's sole internet-service providers, has also 
announced it is suspending e-mail service for 72 hours 
effective midnight 07 September 1999-Ed.]

"Bangkok Post", 07 September


Detainees Listed

Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC), have visited more than 600 "security detainees" 
(its official designation for political prisoners) in Burma, 
according to an ICRC communiqué. The ICRC visited a 
total of nine prisons and detention sites in Burma under 
an agreement with the country's army junta. [It is uncertain 
whether the ICRC is seeking to visit any more prisons or 
detention sites. The Burmese regime continues to deny 
that there are any political prisoners in the country-Ed.]

United Nations, "United Press International," 03 September



BURMA NEWS UPDATE is a publication of
the Burma Project of the Open Society Institute.  
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