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SCMP-Junta bans visit of united nat



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: SCMP-Junta bans visit of united nations special envoy 'in mid-flight'

South China Morning Post
Friday, September 10, 1999
BURMA

Junta bans visit of united nations special envoy 'in mid-flight'
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok

Burma's junta banned UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto from entering the
country this week at short notice.
The move appears to be the biggest - albeit backhanded - confirmation that
yesterday's 9-9-99 Day of Protest has rattled the regime.

"The mission has been postponed by the Government. I won't say cancelled,
they want him to come at some later date," a UN source in Bangkok said. The
ruling generals are thought to have been worried that an embittered and
frustrated population might have used the visit to protest against military
rule.

"De Soto had to almost turn his plane around," said a source.

The cancellation of a trip originally set for March will blunt already thin
hopes for the eventual success of a controversial UN strategy of dangling
aid in exchange for political concessions.

The UN press office said the original idea had been for UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to report on Mr de Soto's findings at the next General Assembly.

This is now impossible since the assembly's 54th session takes place in two
weeks.