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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
_________ September 5, 2000 Issue # 1609__________

INSIDE BURMA _______
Business 2.0: Burma Digs its Own Net Grave
AP: Myanmar rulers step up propaganda campaign against Suu Kyi 
AFP: US says Myanmar guilty of continued religious repression 
Reuters: Myanmar promises access to Suu Kyi, but not yet

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
AP: Watchdog says Myanmar army only one in region using land mines 
Reuters: Britain calls in Myanmar ambassador over crackdown
PD Burma: Norway's former Prime Minister worried about Aung San Suu 
Kyi 
Czech Press: PLF Men Kidnapped near Mae Sot
AFP: Myanmar's foreign minister leaves for UN summit 

OPINION/EDITORIALS _______
The Washington Post: The Missing Leader 
NY Times: Pressure Myanmar

The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
	

Business 2.0: Burma Digs its Own Net Grave 


The notoriously strict Burmese government's new "open" approach to 
the Internet is laden with hidden clauses. As a result, hackers from 
around the world quickly exploit the country's second-rate 
infrastructure to make fun of the backward policies.   Posted on 
September 04, 2000
 
[BurmaNet adds: Business 2.0 is a US magazine that covers ecommerce 
and the Internet).  
 
The word "open" means different things to different people. So when 
the notoriously strict Burmese military government, the State Peace 
and Development Council (SPDC) (named one of the "20 Enemies of the 
Internet" by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders) says 
it's "opening" up and allowing citizens to access the Internet, 
democracy-minded folks start scouring for asterisks and hidden 
clauses.   

On top of the numerous government policies that forbid Burmese 
citizens from speaking out against the government, the asterisks for 
that "open" statement are financial. According to an article that 
appeared in the July 2000 issue of the Burmese-language Living Color 
Magazine by economic analyst Dr Ko Ko, the state-run Myanmar Posts & 
Telecom (MPT) dictates that if citizens want to open an Internet 
account, they must pay a $1080 deposit, plus a limited monthly rate 
of $65.   

Not surprisingly, such a two-faced approach makes the government an 
easy target for hackers. And in August, SPDC's official Website, 
Myanmar.com, normally festooned with colorful, flashy graphics, 
tourism and business opportunities, and pro-junta propaganda, found 
itself covered by pro-democracy electronic graffiti.   

According to news reports that followed, the hacker, "Danny-Boy" 
from "X-Org", changed the site's homepage, leaving pro-democracy 
slogans and anti-government invective, which led the SPDC to blame 
the intrusion on Burmese dissidents living abroad. But a member of 
the Myanmar Hackers' Club (MHC) who was granted anonymity, considers 
the hack the crude, unsophisticated work of a beginner. "There are a 
number of better ways [to retaliate], such as Denial of Service 
(DoS)" he wrote in an email. "But most [MHC members] are not 
interested in such things, as it hurts the people [of Burma] more 
than the military."
   
Ironically, some of the hacker's ire was directed at the MHC itself--
the hacked page contained the message, "And a big F--- Off to Myanmar 
Hacker's Club... you guys are a bunch of CLUELESS IDIOTS!"   

Glen Norris, Webmaster of the Free Burma site, agrees that the hack 
was most likely the work of an inexperienced individual. "I don't 
think it's a huge, organized group [that hacked Myanmar.com]," he 
says. "Besides, The New Light of Myanmar [the government's official 
daily newspaper, which is part of Myanmar.com] is stepping on their 
own toes all the time, so it would actually be a shame if someone did 
hack it."   

SPDC released a revised set of its 1996 Computer Science Development 
Law earlier this year in an attempt to remind people of the penalties 
associated with uses the junta deems illegal. "The law goes on and on 
about how the government is going to help the people by establishing 
computer clubs, and then at the very end, it spells out penalties," 
Norris explains. The regulations stipulate that all computers, fax 
machines, and modems must be registered with the government, with 
prison terms of between 7 and 15 years for offenders.   

Regardless of who hacked Myanmar.com, hackers sympathetic to the 
Burmese cause are aware that these attacks embarrass the government, 
which means the hacks are almost certain to continue. Add in the fact 
that the military personnel who run the country's ISP service are 
woefully inexperienced--themselves victims of the slow flow of 
information in Burma--and future hacks become even more likely. "[The 
SPDC] has inexperienced administrators, huge security flaws, and 
[bad] user policies, and this will drag down the country's future IT 
development," predicts the MHC member. 
  
Although he may agree with the hacker's message, Larry Dohrs, public 
education director of the Free Burma Coalition, isn't sure if the 
Myanmar.com hack was the right way to effect social change. "The 
Burmese Democracy movement is a non-violent movement," he says. "Does 
putting graffiti on the Website of the junta constitute a violent 
act? I'm not sure."   

 
Kevin McLaughlin (kmclaughlin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) is a reporter for 
Business2.com 
 


____________________________________________________


AFP: US says Myanmar guilty of continued religious repression 

NEW YORK, Sept 5 (AFP) - The United States claims in a new report 
issued Tuesday that Myanmar's junta shows no sign of diverting from a 
long trend of discriminating against religious minorities. 

 The report on International Religious Freedom accuses junta troops 
of destroying holy sites in areas populated by some of the country's 
myriad ethnic minorities.
 
 "Security forces have destroyed or looted Buddhist temples, churches 
and mosques in ethnic minority areas," said the report. 

 "Government security forces continued efforts to induce members of 
the Chin ethnic minority to convert to Buddhism and prevent Christian 
Chin from proselytizing by highly coercive means." 

 The report also says there is "credible evidence" that officials and 
security forces compelled people to donate labour, or money to build, 
renovate or maintain Buddhist monuments. 

 "The Government calls these contributions voluntary donations" and 
imposes them on Buddhists and non-Buddhists" the report said. 

 Evidence also existed of severe legal, social and economic 
discrimination against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the western 
state of Arakan, the report said. 

 "There were credible reports that Muslims in Arakan state continue 
to be compelled to build Buddhist pagodas as part of the country's 
forced labour program. These pagodas are often built on confiscated 
Muslim land." 

 The United States is a constant critic of Myanmar's military 
government and a strong supporter of opposition leader Aung San Suu 
Kyi. 

 Myanmar was one of five countries on which were slapped with 
symbolic US sanctions for alleged religious intolerance late last 
year. 




____________________________________________________




____________________________________________________


Reuters: Myanmar promises access to Suu Kyi, but not yet

By Lyndsay Griffiths 

 LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Myanmar has told Britain it may allow 
detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet diplomats 
within two weeks, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday. 

 Diplomats say the gates to Suu Kyi's house have stayed locked since 
she was forcibly returned there on Saturday after a nine-day roadside 
standoff with the authorities outside Yangon. 

 The ruling military have denied Suu Kyi and colleagues are under 
house arrest, but say they have been asked to stay at home while they 
investigate reports of ``terrorist activity'' within their National 
League for Democracy (NLD). 

 The crackdown in former Burma has drawn global condemnation, with 
diplomats voicing grave concern about the de facto house arrests and 
other alleged human rights violations. 

 Yangon, in turn, has lashed out at the West for meddling in its 
internal affairs, saying ``big western countries'' are trying to push 
Myanmar into poverty and unrest. 

 John Battle, a junior Foreign Office minister, summoned Myanmar 
Ambassador Kyaw Win on Monday to protest at the crackdown and demand 
information about Suu Kyi. 

 ``I got an interesting response,'' Battle said on Tuesday. 

 ``I said 'Is there a crisis?' He said 'Yes'. I then said, 'When then 
can we have diplomatic access to Aung San Suu Kyi?' And he 
said, 'Shortly, perhaps in the next two weeks.''' 

 Battle told BBC radio it was the first time the Yangon authorities 
had admitted Myanmar was in crisis, which he attributed to the effect 
of international diplomatic pressure. 

 ``The pressure now is stepping up and the regime cannot go into the 
21st century in isolation,'' said Battle. 

 ``There is one light of hope and that was that the ambassador said 
that Burma does need to move towards democracy a bit more quickly. 
Well, it can jump start now into the 21st century and join the rest 
of the league of nations.'' 

 CAMPAIGNERS SAY CRACKDOWN BODES ILL 

 Yangon authorities have not yet confirmed the whereabouts of Suu Kyi 
and her colleagues of the NLD, which won elections by a landslide in 
1990 but hsw never been allowed to govern. 

 London-based Amnesty International has expressed ``grave concern'' 
for their safety. It has called on the military to produce the Nobel 
Peace Prize winner to prove she is alive and well, but so far the 
authorities have not budged. 

 ``The longer she's held incommunicado, the greater our concern for 
her safety,'' an Amnesty spokesman said. ``The situation could easily 
get very, very much worse.'' 

 The Burma Campaign said the crackdown could spell doom for the pro-
democracy activists and the West must bear some of the blame for 
failing to impose tough sanctions. 

 ``Obviously the regime has failed Burma. But so has the 
international community,'' Yvette Mahon, a director of the human 
rights lobby group, told Reuters. ``This could be the final death 
blow to the NLD. And as for Suu Kyi, nobody actually knows where she 
is, so how can we take it for granted that she is safe?'' 






____________________________________________________


AFP: Myanmar's foreign minister leaves for UN summit 


BANGKOK, Sept 4 (AFP) - Myanmar's foreign minister left Yangon Monday 
for the US to attend the UN general assembly and Millennium summit, 
state media said, amid speculation he will be criticised for his 
recent crackdown on the country's opposition party. 

 Foreign Minister Win Aung was accompanied by a group of senior 
ministry officials and lawyers from the attorney general office, TV 
Myanmar said. 

 Senior Myanmar diplomats and ambassadors, based in US and European 
countries, will also join Win Aung to attend the 55th United Nations 
(UN) general assembly and summit, according to the report. 

 Win Aung is expected to face criticism from UN members for the 
recent crackdown on the country's main opposition party, the National 
League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an 
observer here noted. 

 Myanmar's authorities raided the headquarters of the NLD and 
seized "incriminatory material" and documents early Saturday, just 
before they officially announced that the nine-day showdown between 
Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta was over. 

 The Nobel peace laureate and a dozen NLD members had been camped out 
in their cars on the outskirts of Yangon since August 24 when they 
were blocked from travelling to a party meeting. 

 A government statement said Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters 
were "escorted" to the capital and had arrived home safe and sound 
Saturday morning after their stay in Dallah town." 

 Win Aung told reporters at a brief press conference in Yangon 
earlier that the move was "obviously premeditated" and designed to 
embarrass the military regime ahead of the UN meetings. 

 "She would like to show the world that the people are against the 
government and if any action is taken against her by the government 
she thinks that the people will come out to the streets," Win Aung 
said. 

 "She wants us to arrest her and put her in jail," he said adding 
that the eruption of violence would then be blamed on the government, 
he said. 

 On Sunday, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his "deep 
concern" about the Myanmar military government's crackdown against 
Aung San Suu Kyi. 

 "The reports concerning further infringement of the freedom of 
movement and the freedom of political expression are particularly 
disturbing," Annan's spokesman said in a statement. 

 The United States also condemned the military government's treatment 
of Myanmar's opposition leader and her party members and accused the 
junta of forcibly ending her roadside stand-off. 

 The US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Saturday she 
was "outraged" at Myanmar's treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi. 

 Albright also called on the core of Myanmar generals to "immediately 
cease all activities aimed at preventing the free exercise of 
internationally recognised human rights." 

 The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the 
junta has never recognised the result and is accused by foreign 
critics and human rights groups of severe repression of opponents. 

 Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burmese nationalist leader General 
Aung San, was under house arrest for six years and has subsequently 
had her movements greatly restricted. 



____________________________________________________


Reuters: Britain calls in Myanmar ambassador over crackdown

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British Foreign Office minister John 
Battle summoned the ambassador of Myanmar on Monday to protest 
against its crackdown on the opposition National League for 
Democracy. 

 Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is being kept locked in her 
Yangon residence where she was forcibly returned in the early hours 
of Saturday following a nine-day stand-off in her car after 
authorities barred her and supporters from travelling outside the 
capital. 

 Battle said he would tell Ambassador Kyaw Win that the forcible 
return of Suu Kyi, the de facto house arrest of NLD leaders and the 
search of the party's headquarters were serious infringements of 
their human and political rights. 

 ``I deplore this treatment of the leader of a democratically elected 
party and other members of the NLD,'' he said in a statement issued 
in London. 

 ``I shall be conveying to Dr Kyaw Win our protest at the manhandling 
of the British ambassador in Rangoon (Yangon) over the weekend as he 
tried to establish contact with members of the NLD. I will also 
demand that diplomatic access to Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues 
be immediately restored.'' 

 The Myanmar government denied Suu Kyi and senior colleagues were 
under house arrest, but said they had been asked to stay at home 
while it investigated reports that some NLD members had been involved 
in ``terrorist activity.'' 

 The NLD won 1990 elections by a landslide but has never been allowed 
to govern. The United States, Britain and Australia have all 
condemned the crackdown by the Myanmar military. 

 The Foreign Office said Britain had persuaded its European Union 
partners to strengthen the common EU position on Myanmar, co-
sponsored resolutions in the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN 
General Assembly and tried to stop the use of forced labour in the 
country. 

 Battle had also asked British-based oil and gas prospecting firm 
Premier Oil to end its involvement in Myanmar and the Yetagun 
pipeline project as soon as it lawfully could, to try to restrict the 
flow of revenue to the Yangon government. 







____________________________________________________


AP: Myanmar rulers step up propaganda campaign against Suu Kyi 

September 4, 2000

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's military rulers intensified their 
campaign against Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement, 
announcing Wednesday that 24 members of her party have deserted her. 

 State-run newspapers reported that the members resigned from the 
National League for Democracy party in Mandalay, Myanmar's second 
largest city, and an important constituency for Suu Kyi. 

 The New Light of Myanmar daily said the resignations were submitted 
to the Election Commission in March. But making the news public now 
indicated that the government wants to convey the impression that Suu 
Kyi's movement is losing popular support as it falls under increasing 
restrictions by security forces. 

 The resignations could not be immediately confirmed as NLD's offices 
and headquarters have been shut down since Saturday by the 
government, which accused the part of links with terrorists. 

 NLD's top nine leaders including Suu Kyi, 55, are under virtual 
house arrest and their telephone lines have been disconnected. No one 
is allowed in or out, and guards are posted outside the gates of 
their homes. 

 Myanmar's authoritarian government has kept the NLD on a tight leash 
since 1988 when Suu Kyi led pro-democracy demonstrations. The 
military government allowed national elections in 1990 but refused to 
honor the results when the NLD won a landslide. Suu Kyi was awarded 
the 1991 Nobel peace prize for her work. 

 Suu Kyi's latest confrontation began on Aug. 24 when security forces 
blocked her vehicle as she tried to drive out of Yangon to the 
countryside for party work. She camped out in the open for nine days 
before being forcibly returned to Yangon. 

 In the following days, the state press launched blistering attacks 
on her and the NLD. The government has ignored international 
condemnation and accused the West of meddling in its affairs. 

 In comments published Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the head of 
military intelligence, said ``two Western countries'' are ``creating 
unrest in the country by agitating a handful of disruptive and 
subversionist groups.'' He did not name the countries, but apparently 
was referring to the United States and Britain, who have harshly 
criticized the military rulers. 

 The government has also been irked by British ambassador John 
Jenkins' attempt to go to the house of one of the NLD leaders, Tin 
Oo, over the weekend. 

 A government statement said Tuesday Jenkins had overstepped 
``universal diplomatic norms.'' 

 ``It is difficult to understand why a foreign ambassador was so 
adamant to intrude into the internal affairs of an independent and 
sovereign nation,'' it said. 

 The government says the restrictions on the NLD are an internal 
affair, and that most Myanmar people support it. 

 In the past, the government media have frequently reported 
resignations from the NLD, but the party dismisses the reports as 
propaganda. 

 The latest resignations in Mandalay were apparently of ordinary 
members and not elected representatives. In the 1990 elections, the 
NLD won 392 of the 485 seats at stake. 

 The Election Commission, however, says the victories of only 109 NLD 
candidates remain valid as the rest have either resigned or were 
disqualified, or have died or are in exile. 

 Suu Kyi does not accept the disqualifications or the resignations. 
The government has also detained a number of elected representatives. 

 According to official figures more than 60,000 ordinary party 
members had resigned so far, a figure disputed by Suu Kyi who says 
the resignations were forced under coercion.












____________________________________________________











___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				

AP: Watchdog says Myanmar army only one in region using land mines 


September 4, 2000

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Myanmar's army is the only government force 
in Southeast Asia still using anti-personnel land mines, which are 
littering 10 out of the country's 14 states, an international 
watchdog said Tuesday. 

 The statement by Landmine Monitor is contained in a report that will 
be released Thursday along with reports on the status of land mines 
in over 100 countries. 

 The group also expects to deliver Thursday copies to Myanmar's 
military rulers in an attempt to persuade them to stop production and 
use of land mines, said a summary of the report. The full text of the 
report was published in advance on its website. 

 In a statement, the Myanmar government said the claim is inaccurate. 
It did not elaborate. 

 Landmine Monitor is part of the 1997 Nobel peace prize winning 
organization, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which 
created an initiative to monitor compliance and implementation of the 
1997 Mine Ban Treaty. 

 Myanmar, also known as Burma, has not signed the treaty, and calls a 
sweeping ban on land mines ``unnecessary and unjustified.'' It says 
the real problem is the indiscriminate use of mines and their 
transfer. 

 Of the 131 countries that have signed the treaty, 91 have ratified 
it. Among those who have not signed it are the United States, Russia 
and China. 

 ``We should begin with the bigger nations which can cause much 
bigger harm than smaller nations,'' the Myanmar government statement 
said. 

 The Landmine Monitor report said that the Myanmar Defense Products 
Industries produces at least two types of mines modeled after Chinese 
designed fragmentation and blast mines. 

 The report said there are no reliable estimates of the number of 
mines planted in Myanmar, or the amount of land affected, but 
research shows that 10 out of its 14 states and divisions have land 
mines. 

 ``The pollution ranges from minimal to severe, and is mostly located 
close to its borders with Bangladesh and Thailand,'' where the army 
is fighting some 30 different ethnic rebellions, the report said. 

 All of the armed groups are believed capable of building blast mines 
and improvised explosive devices, and at least 10 groups are actually 
using them, the report says. 

 ``It is their `final solution' to keep the Burmese army from 
entering (their) areas, but they will ultimately act as an obstacle 
to post-conflict development,'' the report quoted its researcher, 
Yeshva Moser-Puangsuwan, as saying. 

 It said land mines in Myanmar are producing more casualties than in 
any other country in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia where 1,000 
people are killed or maimed each year. In Myanmar, the mines are 
estimated to have claimed 1,500 victims in 1999 alone, the report 
said. The government statement said this was inaccurate. It did not 
elaborate. 
 ___ 
 On the Net: 
 The Landmine Monitor report: 
www.igc.org/nonviolence/burmamines/lm2.html 





PD Burma: Norway's former Prime Minister worried about Aung San Suu 
Kyi 

Oslo, 5  September 2000



Late Monday evening the former Prime Minister of Norway Mr. Kjell 
Magne Bondevik sent a letter to Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs 
Mr. Torbj°rn Jagland, in which he expressed his concern for the 
situation for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party members in the National 
League for Democracy (NLD). Bondevik is a member of the International 
Network of Political Leaders Promoting Democracy in Burma (PD Burma). 

On Saturday 2 September, the 9 day long confrontation between Aung 
San Suu Kyi and the military regime in Burma suddenly ended when she 
and the NLD vice chairman Tin Oo were forcibly returned to Rangoon. 

The situation in Burma is very tense, and reports say that the 14 NLD 
members who were together with Aung San Suu Kyi have been exposed to 
violence when they opposed to return to Rangoon. They have since 
Saturday been in arrest in Insein prison in Rangoon. The military 
junta raided the NLD headquarters in Rangoon on Saturday. So far 
nobody from the diplomatic community or others has been allowed to 
see Aung San Suu Kyi or the other NLD members detained.  

Bondevik on Monday urged the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs to 
consider the following steps;

1)      that Norway, together with other countries, raise the 
situation in Burma
with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and asks the UN the 
investigate the present condition for Aung San Suu Kyi, 

2       that Norway raise with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 
what the UN and the world community can do to improve the situation 
for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party colleagues in Burma, 

3       lastly, that Norway raise with the UN Secretary General Kofi 
Annan how the world organisation now can work to achieve a dialogue 
between Aung San Suu Kyi, the military regime and the ethnic 
nationalities in Burma to restore democracy in Burma. 

This week state leaders are gathering in New York to attend the 
Millennium Summit in the UN. In this connection Norway's Prime 
Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Norway's Foreign Minister Torbj°rn 
Jagland will be in New York.  
	


  


____________________________________________________


Czech Press: PLF Men Kidnapped near Mae Sot

 6 September 2000
 

 
By: Maxmilian Wechsler
Mae Sot , Czech Press 

    Twelve members of the People Liberation Front (PLF) were abducted 
and are missing, according to the group's chairman Aye Saung. 

    The PLF is an Burmese opposition group aiming the overthrow  the 
Burmese military junta. They are active in Mae Sot area, Tak 
province. 

   According to one witness who managed to escape, a number of 
plainclothes men raided three locations near Mae Sot just before 
midnight on 23rd July and kidnapped twelve members of the PLF. The 
abductors arrived on pick up truck. 

    The PLF men were savagely beaten, tied up by the rope and 
throwned on the pick up truck . All three houses  were ransacked, 
valuables and documents taken. 

   The witness said the kidnappers spoke a foreign language and one 
was brandishing a shotgun. No shots were fired during the raids. 

   Up to this time no group claimed a responsibility for the 
kidnappings and no ransom demand was made.  

   A source close to the PLF strongly discounted the possibility the 
kidnappers came from Burma side. 

   Aye Saung is puzzled by the motive for the abductions but an 
independent source suspecting that a conflict with another group is 
the reason for the kidnapping 

   The raiders were well organized and executed the abductions with 
the military discipline and precision. 

   The remaining PLF members fled the area after a rumour spread that 
the kidnappers  are planning to abduct another seven members of the 
PLF. Their names appeared on the note received by Aye Saung. 

    Aye Saung who is well know and respected executive member of the 
Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) expressed his outrage on the 
abductions and  is prepared to meet with the kidnappers to solve the 
problem. He hope his men are alive and will be returned. 

    The next issue of the PLF's  Liberation Bulletin No.18 will 
devote its front page to the kidnappings. The bulletin will be 
publish on Saturday.





_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________


The Washington Post: The Missing Leader 


Tuesday , September 5, 2000 ; A24 

AS KINGS and presidents jostle for attention at the "Millennium 
Summit" in New York this week, they ought to devote a few words, or 
at least a few moments of thought, to one of their number who won't 
be present. Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's rightful leader, is effectively 
under arrest, captive of a thuggish military regime that refuses to 
accept the results of an election she won a decade ago. In the past 
few days, the generals have tightened the screws on Aung San Suu Kyi 
and her party, jailing supporters, stealing documents and cutting off 
telephone connections to her house and those of her associates. Her 
plight represents, among other things, a failure on the part of the 
international community that will be celebrating itself with such 
fanfare at the United Nations beginning tomorrow. 

The latest drama in Burma began when Aung San Suu Kyi dared to set 
out from her house, where the regime keeps her confined even while 
pretending--with its usual mendacity--that she is free. The generals 
sent their goons to block her way, let the air out of her car's tires 
and diverted her to a muddy field on the city's outskirts. There Aung 
San Suu Kyi stubbornly camped for nine days, intent on exercising her 
rights of free movement and association. After nine days, the goons 
sent 200 soldiers on a midnight raid to return the Nobel Peace 
laureate to--it is presumed--her house. Even diplomats have been 
forbidden contact with her. 

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright strongly condemned the regime's 
latest bullying, but as usual others send different signals. Big oil 
companies, including Unocal of the United States and Total of France, 
continue to bolster the regime. European diplomats plan a December 
meeting with Southeast Asian officials, including those from Burma. 
China's gerontocrats, who feel right at home with Burma's generals, 
keep the drug-tainted junta well supplied with weapons. 
Aung San Suu Kyi herself, when last permitted to communicate, made 
clear that she and her party seek only dialogue with the regime. That 
international leaders and businesses cannot unite in support of that 
modest, nonviolent goal is a sad reality that ought to temper any 
self-satisfied huffery and puffery at the Millennium Summit. 


NY Times: Pressure Myanmar

September 4, 2000

To the Editor:
Re Popular Burmese Leader Tests Wills With Junta (news article, Aug 
3, 2000): 

Despite the standoff between the Burmese pro democracy leader, Daw 
Aung San Suu Kyi, and the country's military  authorities. your 
article suggests that there is little  that the united States can do 
to pressure the regime because  it has already banned new investment 
by American firms. Yet a fifth of the export earnings of Myanmar. 
which was called  Burma until it was renamed by the junta, comes from 
exports  to the United States. Those exports, particularly apparel 
shipments, have been growing. Shouldn't the United States  consider 
barring imports from Myanmar?	

Robert Naiman
Washington. Aug. 31, 2000

The writer is a senior policy analyst of the Center for Economic and 
Policy Research.




_____________________ OTHER  ______________________





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