BurmaNet News: June 3 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

June 3 2003 Issue #2250

INSIDE BURMA

Independent: Burma refuses to release Suu Kyi
AP: Demonstrators call for release of Aung San Suu Kyi
RFA: Witness account contradicts junta’s reports
Bangkok Post: Suu Kyi detention points to widening military split
AP: Myanmar says Suu Kyi is safe in custody
Washington Post: Burmese opposition leader may have been injured

INTERNATIONAL

ABC News Online: UN warns Burma over Suu Kyi’s detention
Guardian: Calls for EU sanctions on Burma
AP: Myanmar crackdown wrecks hopes for aid

STATEMENTS/EDITORIALS

Statement by the U.S. President
Statement of Sen. John McCain on the situation in Burma
Statement of Javier Solana
Press Release: Mike O’Brien calls for immediate release of Burmese
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
Washington Post: Crackdown in Burma
Gazeta Wyborcza: Military arrest Nobel Peace Prize laureate
HRW: Burma: Release Aung San Suu Kyi, investigate attacks

INSIDE BURMA

Independent June 4 2003

Burma refuses to release Suu Kyi
By Jan McGirk in Bangkok

International calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition
leader who has been held incommunicado by the Burmese junta since Friday,
have gone unheeded.
Khin Maung Wing, Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister, denied rumours that Ms
Suu Kyi had suffered a head injury during a riot in northern Burma in
which at least four people died. He told diplomats that "she was not hurt
at all", and added that the 1991 Nobel peace laureate was being kept
"temporarily" in a secure place. The minister said the closure of
universities and colleges was unrelated to Ms Suu Kyi's arrest, although
analysts disagree.
Diplomatic sources said Ms Suu Kyi was being detained at a government
guesthouse in Rangoon. Leaders of her National League for Democracy are
also in custody. Because Ms Suu Kyi was not put under house arrest at her
lakeside home in the capital, some supporters fear she might be badly
hurt.
Unconfirmed reports circulating in the Burmese exile community in Thailand
claimed her car was fired on, and that as many as 70 people died in
clashes last Friday. The government denied this.
President George Bush said Ms Suu Kyi should be released immediately. "We
have urged Burmese officials to release all political prisoners and to
offer their people a better way of life," he said.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, called for Ms Suu Kyi to
be freed and allowed to play a role in the country's stalled
reconciliation process. The junta is likely to bar Razali Ismail, a UN
envoy, from seeing the dissident leader when he arrives in Rangoon on
Friday. Mr Ismail helped instigate a secret dialogue with the military
that resulted in Ms Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in May last year.
___________

Associated Press June 3 2003

Demonstrators call for release of Aung San Suu Kyi

Pro-democracy demonstrators rallied outside the Myanmar Embassy on Tuesday
demanding the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Waving banners and chanting "down with the military regime," more than 60
protesters called on the international community to toughen sanctions
against the country unless Suu Kyi was immediately set free.

"The regime is calculating that the European Union will yet again wring
its hands and come out with mealy mouthed words of criticism," said Mark
Farmaner of the Burma Campaign U.K. "It knows that the United States will
keep sanctions whatever happens and knows that ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations" will do nothing. It all hangs on the EU and we
are calling for it to impose investment sanctions."

Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since Friday when she and 19 members
of her National League for Democracy party were taken into what the
government said was "protective custody."

Myanmar officials have said four people were killed and 50 injured in the
clash between Suu Kyi's supporters and opponents that preceded her
detention. Dissident groups, however, say they fear the death toll could
be as high as 70 and that Suu Kyi may have suffered a head injury.

Myanmar's junta came to power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy
protests. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was kept under
house arrest from 1989 to 1995 after being held without trial on national
security charges.

Her party won general elections in 1990. The military refused to honor the
result of the poll.

Many of those demonstrating Tuesday were members of London's Burmese
community, and wore red headbands decorated with a fighting peacock - the
symbol of the student protests of 1988.

"Suu Kyi has the people's mandate and should be freed immediately," said
Ko Aung, who said he was imprisoned for seven years by the junta after
taking part in the 1988 protests. "We need countries to reconsider their
foreign policy toward Burma," he added.

The United Nations, the EU and several world leaders, including U.S.
President George W. Bush, have raised concerns about the arrests.

ASEAN said it wants Myanmar to explain why it detained Suu Kyi but added
that it will not demand her release.

Besides Myanmar, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
_________

Radio Free Asia June 3 2003

Witness Account Contradicts Junta’s Reports

Police and thugs attacked students traveling with Burmese opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she visited northern Burma, according to a new
eyewitness account obtained by Radio Free Asia (RFA) Burmese service. This
account contradicts the junta’s claim that deadly violence erupted
spontaneously between rival pro- and anti-government factions.
Aung San Suu Kyi reached Saing Byin Gyi village, about 500 miles north of
Rangoon, at approximately 6:30 pm local time Friday, where she made
remarks aimed at encouraging the relatives of detained National League for
Democracy (NLD) members, according to the account. At about 7:00 pm, two
miles outside of Depayin village, about five trucks loaded with members of
the junta-sponsored Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA)
stopped Suu Kyi and her supporters in the road. Police, men dressed as
monks, and convicts streamed out of the trucks.
Guided by the headlights of their vehicles, the USDA members charged
several hundred NLD supporters and Aung San Suu Kyi’s entourage with
bamboo stakes between two and three feet long, according to the eyewitness
account.
"When the attackers tried to hit Aung San Suu Kyi’s car, four or five
students covered her with their bodies, and they were beaten hard. The
driver turned the car onto a dirt road and drove off. NLD Vice Chairman
Tin Oo was also beaten up and was seen being taken away by three
policemen," said the eyewitness.
"A group of motorcyclists who tried to follow Aung San Suu Kyi’s car were
intercepted between Butalin and Monywa, and about 100 police beat up the
riders. The bodies of a young monk and a student killed in the clash were
taken back to Monywa. However, two military trucks chased those with the
bodies and the group had to flee, leaving the bodies, which the soldiers
took away with them."
The ruling junta, which has controlled Burma since a violent crackdown of
pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, has claimed that violent clashes
between NLD supporters and thousands of pro-government protesters left
four people dead and 50 injured. The government also claims to have placed
Aung San Suu Kyi and 19 members of her party in "protective custody."
Unconfirmed reports say Suu Kyi is being held at an army guest house in
the capital.
Reports of what exactly happened on Friday remain sketchy, in part because
the junta has cut the phone lines of residents near where the incident
occurred and the phones of senior NLD members.
________

Bangkok Post June 3 2003

Suu Kyi detention points to widening military split
The ruling junta is said to be divided over how to deal with Aung San Suu
Kyi, and so the hard-liners have decided to up the ante.
By LARRY JAGAN

The arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and the general crackdown on the opposition
reflect widening divisions within the military elite in Rangoon over what
to do with the popular opposition leader known widely as simply `the
Lady''.

The hard-liners around General Than Shwe, leader No 1, are convinced there
is no need to talk to the pro-democracy leader. Other military leaders
have begun to realise that time is finally running out for their regime.

Burma's military government remains silent on the current whereabouts of
Suu Kyi and her health. The national headquarters in Rangoon of her
National League for Democracy was raided and sealed on Sunday, its leaders
put under arrest, and party branches throughout the country closed. The
junta also closed universities and colleges indefinitely.

Heavy security has been placed around the homes of all eight NLD committee
members, including that of U Tin Oo, who is in protective custody with Suu
Kyi.

``Many key generals, like the military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, know
the current political deadlock cannot continue much longer without dire
consequences for them,'' one Western diplomat in Rangoon said.

Many of these military leaders saw the start of the dialogue process more
than two years ago as a possible guarantee the army had a long-term role
in the country's political future. They know that the only way out of this
impasse is to talk to Suu Kyi.

Gen Than Shwe, who is concurrently prime minister, defence minister and
chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
however, has no intentions of starting concrete political talks with the
opposition leader.

This rift between the top general and other key members of the military
government is likely to worsen in coming months. Suu Kyi's detention and
the crackdown on the opposition seem to be part of an orchestrated
campaign by the hard-liners in the army, although the long term goal
remains unclear.

``The army has been on alert for more than a week leading up to the
violent clash in northern Burma [at the weekend],'' said a military source
in Rangoon. The hard-liners seem to have been looking for an excuse to
delay talking to Suu Kyi and provide concrete reasons for ignoring the
opposition.

This contrasts with recent efforts by military intelligence to restart a
dialogue with the opposition leader _ at least at a lower level within the
army than the top three generals. ``The two sides were going to meet after
her return from Kachin state,'' U Lwin, the NLD spokesman, said.

For Gen Than Shwe, releasing Suu Kyi from a second term of house arrest in
May 2002 was an end in itself, not a step towards direct negotiations with
the opposition leader.

Military sources close to the general say he loathes the opposition
leader, and refuses to have her name mentioned in his presence.

``The very mention of her name throws the senior general into a fit,'' a
senior Asian diplomat said. ``During the Asean summit in Phnom Penh last
November, Asian leaders like Japanese Prime Minister [Junichiro] Koizumi
were advised not to mention her name during their bilateral meetings.''

Even United Nations envoy Razali Ismail was reportedly asked on his last
visit to Rangoon to minimise the number of times he used her name during
his meeting with Gen Than Shwe.

But it is becoming clear that Gen Than Shwe's assumption of total
political and military power, and the corresponding political stalemate,
has created substantial unease amongst the country's other top generals.

They have begun to see that the current lack of political progress may
endanger their long-term survival. Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt has
repeatedly told international visitors to Rangoon _ like Mr Razali and UN
special rapporteur on human rights Paulo Pinheiro _ that he was powerless
to influence the country's political future.

``Pragmatists'' in the military _ those who accept that the situation in
Burma cannot continue and change is essential _ group around Lt-Gen Khin
Nyunt. This group, and the foreign ministry, are telling their Asian
counterparts and diplomats in Rangoon that Burma will face a major crisis
in coming months if the dialogue process does not move forward soon.

``Time is running out for us,'' a senior government minister was quoted as
telling Western politicians and diplomats in recent months. ``Our only
chance of preventing the country from collapsing into an economic and
humanitarian crisis is progress in the dialogue process.''

But that is increasingly unlikely as long as the senior general is calling
all the shots.

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt also recently told Surakiart Sathirathai, the Thai
foreign minister, that representatives of the SPDC plan to meet Suu Kyi in
the near future.

Meanwhile, the closure of universities and colleges on Sunday was seen by
a Western diplomat in Rangoon as a bid to pre-empt protests.

Since students were at the forefront of protests in 1988 that brought down
General Ne Win's dictatorship, authorities were ``obviously worried'' they
might be again ``enticed into lightening political protests'' against Suu
Kyi's renewed detention, the diplomat said.

Universities have opened only intermittently since 1988 and have been
closed quickly each time there has been a hint of trouble: in December
1991 when Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and again in 1996 when
student protesters briefly took to the streets.

In the past year or so, there have been low-key political protests in
Rangoon by university students demanding more political freedom, the
release of political prisoners and a start to serious political dialogue.
At least two student ring leaders have been sentenced to 14 years in
prison.

It is a repetition of these types of protests the military junta hopes to
avoid.

``It's a typical preventive measure that Burma's military intelligence
takes,'' an Asian diplomat in Rangoon said. ``Ensuring stability and
avoiding any social unrest is their highest priority.''

Another Asian diplomat said: ``A full-scale student protest is what the
regime fears most. They saw what happened in Indonesia five years ago. and
certainly don't want a repeat of that in Rangoon in 2003.''

Even the way the latest crackdown is being presented to the Burmese public
underlines the rifts within the military government. As Suu Kyi was being
brought to Rangoon in protective custody, Burmese military intelligence
officers at a government press conference told the nation for the first
time that they were talking to her about national reconciliation.

Though they blamed her and her party for the current problems, the chief
intelligence officer who is the key go-between with the NLD,
Brigadier-General Than Tun, said the dialogue process would not be
affected by the latest incidents.

The junta's sincerity in talking with Suu Kyi will be tested later this
week when Mr Razali, who brokered the talks between the two sides, returns
to Rangoon to try to start substantive political talks.

He is keen to go, and says that even if the opposition leader is in
custody, he wants to talk to her about the current political situation and
have the opportunity to tell Burma's military leaders how important it is
to the international community to see the start of real political dialogue
and how the regime would benefit from it.

The fear is the latest incidents reflect a coup within the military
leadership which has strengthened the hand of the hard-liners. This would
almost certainly mean an end to the dialogue process.
_____________

Associated Press June 3 2003

Myanmar Says Suu Kyi Is Safe in Custody
By AYE AYE WIN

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Faced with mounting international concern about
detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's military
government said Tuesday that she is not hurt, but declined to promise that
a special U.N. envoy would be allowed to meet her.
In closed-door briefings to foreign diplomats, Deputy Foreign Minister
Khin Maung Win blamed members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
party for provoking the violence that led to her detention, but declared
that the government remained committed to political reconciliation.
He said that U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail was ``free to come'' on a
scheduled visit to Myanmar starting Friday, but that he did not have
sufficient authority to say whether he would be allowed to meet the Nobel
Peace Prize winner, according to diplomats who attended the briefings.
Suu Kyi is being held in a secure place, Khin Maung Win said, but he
wouldn't reveal where or how long she would be held.
Reports from Myanmar exile opposition groups claimed that Suu Kyi suffered
head injuries in a battle Friday night in northern Myanmar between her
party's followers and government supporters.
These reports said Suu Kyi's motorcade was waylaid by government thugs
accompanied by soldiers who fired their weapons, and that as many as 70
people may have died.
Khin Maung Win said in his briefing that the fighting began when Suu Kyi's
motorcade attempted to plow through a crowd of townspeople protesting her
visit; that casualties were limited to four killed and 50 injured; and
that no military or police were there.
Following the incident, authorities detained Suu Kyi and other party
leaders and closed their offices nationwide. The government also canceled
university classes.
Khin Maung Win described the measures against Suu Kyi and her party were
``temporary in nature'' and meant to ensure the safety of the
pro-democracy activist. He said the suspension of university classes was
unrelated to the confrontation.
The crackdown, the harshest in years by the junta, has been condemned by
many world leaders, including President Bush, who demanded Suu Kyi's
immediate release and restoration of her party's freedom of action.
Washington has long been hostile to the military government and critical
of its human rights record. But even nations sympathetic to the regime
expressed dismay over the current situation.
``A democratic solution, a solution through dialogue, is needed. I don't
think the current situation is good,'' said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo
Fukuda of Japan, Myanmar's main foreign aid donor.
In his second public statement since the crackdown began, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said though a spokesman Tuesday that Suu Kyi
and other members of her party should be released immediately
``The present situation in Myanmar is not merely a question of law and
order, but rather one that derives from the political aspirations of the
Myanmar people who are overwhelmingly in favor of change,'' he was quoted
saying.
Spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan has instructed his special envoy, Razali
Ismail, to talk to the Myanmar government, Suu Kyi and other national
leaders during his planned June 6 to 10 visit.
``I am still making preparations to go,'' Razali told The Associated Press
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Asked if he would meet Suu Kyi, he said the
mandate of his post ``clearly says that the special envoy must deal with
all parties.''
In late 2000, Razali brokered closed-door reconciliation talks between the
government and Suu Kyi, providing hope for a resolution of the country's
political impasse. Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 general election, but the
military refused to let it take power.
__________

Washington Post June 3 2003

Burmese Opposition Leader May Have Been Injured
By Alan Sipress

JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 3 -- As Burma's military government today
extended the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sources
close to developments in the secretive country said she may have been
injured in a clash that preceded her arrest last week.
Zin Linn, an official with a Burmese opposition group in exile, said Suu
Kyi suffered a head wound and a broken arm when she was beaten with a
bamboo pole. The injuries occurred when military officers and assailants
under their command attacked her motorcade Friday as she was making a
political swing through northern Burma, according to Linn, director of the
east office of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
Another non-Burmese source outside the country said he also believed Suu
Kyi had been injured and was being held at a military hospital near
Rangoon. He said his information was independent of Linn's.
But Burmese officials told diplomats during a private briefing today that
Suu Kyi was in good health and being held in a "safe place" in Rangoon,
according to news reports from the capital. Deputy Foreign Minister Khin
Maung Win said reports that she had been injured during the clashes were
false, a diplomat present at the briefing told the Associated Press.
The minister did not say how long Suu Kyi would remain in custody or where
she was being kept.
Suu Kyi's status could become clearer later this week when U.N. special
envoy Razali Ismail visits Rangoon. The 57-year-old Nobel laureate was
taken into "protective custody" last week along with at least 17 of her
supporters. Government officials said four people were killed and 50
injured during the battle between her supporters and opponents near the
town of Dipeyin, about 400 miles north of Rangoon.
But Linn said he had heard from two eyewitnesses inside the country that
at least 70 people were killed in what he described as a "very systematic
and well-planned attack" against Suu Kyi's entourage. Linn lives outside
Burma in another Southeast Asian country, which he asked not be disclosed.
He described the assailants as a combination of security forces, criminals
and elements of the pro-government Union Solidarity Development
Association. Linn said members of Suu Kyi's entourage were robbed of their
jewelry, watches and other valuables and that some of the assailants were
taken aback by the cruelty of the attack as it progressed.
It was not possible to independently confirm the details of Linn's account.
Suu Kyi's detention came almost exactly a year after she had been released
from house arrest under an agreement brokered by Razali. That development
provided new momentum to efforts at securing a broader deal that could
move Burma toward democracy and end its international isolation.
In recent weeks, during her month-long tour of the northern countryside,
Suu Kyi had become increasingly vocal in criticizing the government for
failing to honor her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in
the 1990 parliamentary elections. She had also despaired of the
government's unwillingness to engage in serious talks to resolve the
deadlock.
Following Suu Kyi's arrest, officials shuttered her party's Rangoon
headquarters and party offices elsewhere in the country. Linn said about
100 offices have been sealed.
The government has also suspended most classes at universities, colleges
and technical schools, long a stronghold of Burma's democracy movement.

INTERNATIONAL

ABC News Online June 4 2003

UN warns Burma over Suu Kyi's detention

Burma's military Government says it will continue to hold pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi in what it has termed protective custody.

The Government has given no indication how long her detention will last.

The Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister has also denied reports the Opposition
leader was injured during recent clashes between her supporters and
pro-Government protesters.

The UN's special rapporteur on Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, says Aung San
Suu Kyi's continued detention could lead to the military regime being
isolated.

"I'm afraid if the FPC choose this path, and I hope that they will not
choose this path of keeping in prison the general secretary of NLD, it
will be extremely difficult to try to continue supporting growing
engagement instead of isolation," he said.
__________

Guardian (London) June 3 2003

Calls for EU sanctions on Burma
By John Gittings

Calls are growing for EU sanctions to be imposed against the Burmese junta
after its detention of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi dashed hopes
of a peaceful reconciliation in the country.

Ms Suu Kyi is being held in a military intelligence guesthouse in the
capital Rangoon, sources from her National League for Democracy said
yesterday, after a clash at Budalin on Friday between her supporters and a
pro-junta mob. The United States has told the junta it expects her to be
released quickly. The EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, condemned
the junta's "repressive behaviour".

Other members of Ms Suu Kyi's party's leadership are under house arrest
and its branch offices around the country have been closed.

"The Burmese people have suffered too long, it is time for tough action,"
said the European parliamentarian Glenys Kinnock yesterday, backing a call
by the British-based Burma Sanctions Coalition. "The response to the
crackdown must be in the form of UK and EU investment sanctions."

The EU council of ministers is being urged to follow up its April warning
to tighten restrictions on Burma unless the regime initiated a
"substantive political dialogue" with Ms Suu Kyi. But Germany and Italy
want a softer line.
__________

Associated Press June 3 2003

Myanmar Crackdown Wrecks Hopes for Aid
By GRANT PECK

The crackdown on Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her
pro-democracy party in Myanmar has thrown into turmoil months of efforts
to cajole the country's ruling generals into political reform and wrecked
hopes for economic aid.

The immediate worry Monday was over the whereabouts and condition of Suu
Kyi, who was taken into what the military government called "protective
custody" after bloodshed between her supporters and government backers on
Friday night.

Unconfirmed reports from Myanmar exile opposition groups suggested Suu
Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, may have been hurt in
the fight in northern Myanmar.

The government has only said that Suu Kyi is in a "safe place" in the
capital, Yangon. Seeking to prevent campus protests, the junta closed
universities Monday. Many National League for Democracy offices have been
closed and leaders detained.

Calls flooded in for Suu Kyi's release Monday - from the European Union,
the United Nations, Britain and Australia. In Washington, President Bush
said he was "deeply concern."

"The military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her
supporters immediately, and permit her party headquarters to reopen," Bush
said in a statement issued by the White House.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the United States condemned
the placement of any restrictions on Suu Kyi and called the crackdown a
"significant step back" for Myanmar.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded that Suu Kyi be immediately
released and "allowed to play a role" in the country's reconciliation
process, his spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

But the junta's crackdown has turned back the clock on that effort to
reconcile the opposition and the generals, who in 1990 barred Suu Kyi's
party from taking power after it won elections.

It also means international aid - shut off since the junta took power in
1988 by violently suppressing pro-democracy protests - won't flow any time
soon to the impoverished nation, which is also known as Burma.

Even those in Asia who have advocated encouraging the junta to allow
reform rather than forcing it appeared worried. Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday "the whole world" is concerned about Suu
Kyi's detention, and called on the junta to bring the situation "back to
normal."

The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, is to visit the country
Friday, but his plans for a solution seem in tatters.

He has backed "constructive engagement" with the generals to promote
reform, and in late 2001 the envoy brokered closed-door talks between the
government and Suu Kyi. That led to Suu Kyi's release in May 2002 from 19
months under house arrest.

Several hundred political prisoners were freed and previously closed
National League for Democracy offices were gradually reopened. Suu Kyi -
who was also under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 - was allowed freedom of
movement previously denied to her.

But after the hopeful start, the process came to standstill last year.

An aide to Razali said Monday that the diplomat believed it was "not
prudent" to comment publicly on the crackdown.

The generals claim Suu Kyi's supporters instigated a fracas in the north
Friday night in which at least four people were killed.

But exile opposition groups maintain Suu Kyi's motorcade was ambushed by
government-backed thugs and the military. Tight controls on the media and
the relatively remote location of the incident make it difficult to verify
any information.

A Washington-based exile group linked to the National League for Democracy
said Monday that more than 70 people were killed in the initial fight
Friday night and a protest the next day.

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma also said that
according to its information Suu Kyi had suffered a serious head injury in
the confrontation. A spokesman for the group - which calls itself a
government in exile - told The Associated Press the information came from
multiple sources inside Myanmar that have been reliable in the past.

Myanmar's junta has never been averse to applying broad, heavy-handed
strokes of repression. But over the past two years, it has taken steps to
shake Myanmar's reputation as a pariah state.

These included allowing visits by U.N. human rights and labor
investigators, as well as permitting the human rights group Amnesty
International to make its first-ever official visit.

After a 10-day visit that ended in early February, Amnesty's researchers
said that human rights in Myanmar continue to "fall short of international
law" but are improving.

With the reconciliation process waning in recent months, the countries who
control foreign aid have increased pressure.

In March, British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien told Razali that
Britain's "policy toward the regime will have to toughen unless the
Burmese authorities show real commitment to reform."

In April, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sent a letter to junta
leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe urging him to undertake economic and
democratic reforms.

STATEMENTS

STATEMENT BY THE [UNITED STATES] PRESIDENT June 2 2003

I am deeply concerned by reports from Burma of the detention of Aung San
Suu Kyi and members of her political party, as well as reports that
military authorities have closed her party headquarters in Rangoon. The
military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters
immediately, and permit her party headquarters to re-open.
The situation in Burma has long been of concern to the United States. We
have urged Burmese officials to release all political prisoners and to
offer their people a better way of life, a life offering freedom and
economic progress. We welcomed the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest more than a year ago. This step gave the military regime an
opportunity to enter into a substantive dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and
all political groups to promote national reconciliation and democracy.
This is still the only path to peace and prosperity for all of Burma's
people.
_________________

STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON THE SITUATION IN BURMA

June 3, 2003

	Mr. President, every so often a clarifying moment in international
affairs reminds us of the stakes involved in a particular conflict, and
of our moral obligation to stand with those who risk their lives for the
principles of freedom.  The violent crackdown against Burmese democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters over the weekend underscores
the brutal and unreconstructed character of Burma’s dictatorship.  The
assault should remind democrats everywhere that we must actively support
her struggle to deliver the human rights and freedom of a people long
denied them by an oppressive military regime.

	The arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi following a coordinated, armed attack
against her and her supporters is a reminder to the world that Burma’s
military junta has neither legitimacy nor limits on its power to crush
peaceful dissent.  The junta insists it stepped in to restore order
following armed clashes between members of Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy and unnamed opponents.  In fact, the regime’s forces had been
harassing Suu Kyi and the NLD for months.  The junta’s Union Solidarity
Development Association orchestrated and staged last weekend’s attack,
killing at least 70 of her supporters and injuring Suu Kyi herself,
perhaps seriously.  Credible reports suggest that the regime’s thugs
targeted Suu Kyi personally.  She is now being held incommunicado by
Burmese military intelligence; her party offices have been closed; many
of its activists are missing; and universities have been shut down. 
After having spent most of the last 14 years under house arrest, Ms. Suu
Kyi is, one again, a political prisoner.

	Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the world’s most courageous champions of
freedom.  I join advocates of a free Burma everywhere in expressing
outrage at her unwarranted detention and call for her immediate,
unconditional release, and the freedom to travel and speak throughout her
country.

	Closing party offices, shuttering universities, and detaining Aung San
Suu Kyi and senior members of her party in the name of “protecting” her
demonstrate how estranged the junta is from its own people, and how
potent are Suu Kyi’s appeals for democratic change in a nation that
resoundingly
endorsed her in democratic elections 13 years ago.   The junta’s decision to
release her from house arrest a year ago, and to permit her to speak and
travel within tightly circumscribed limits, appeared to reflect the
generals ’ calculation that her popular appeal had diminished, and that
perhaps her fighting spirit had flagged.  They could not have been more
wrong.

	Aung San Suu Kyi remains the legitimately elected and overwhelmingly
popular leader of her country.  Even though she was under house arrest in
1990, her party captured 82 percent of the vote, shocking the generals.
Neither the huge majority of the Burmese people who voted for the NLD nor
the international community have forgotten how Burma’s junta rejected the
election results, nor how the regime’s forces massacred its own people at
a democratic rally two years earlier.  We have not forgotten the many
political prisoners who remain in Burma’s jails, or the repression
Burma’s people have endured for decades.  The assault on Burma’s free
political future at the hands of the regime last weekend has reminded us
of what we already knew: the junta cannot oversee the reform and opening
of Burma, for it remains the biggest obstacle to the freedom and
prosperity of the Burmese people.  Burma cannot change as long as the
junta rules, without restraint or remorse.

	Despite these obvious truths, of which we have been reminded again this
week, some countries have chosen to pursue policies of political and
commercial engagement with the government in Rangoon on the grounds that
working with and through the junta would have a more significant
liberalizing effect than isolating and sanctioning it.  ASEAN admitted
Burma in 1997, Beijing has enjoyed warm relations with Rangoon, and most
countries trade with it: only the United States and Europe impose mild
sanctions against the regime.  Proponents of engagement pointed to the
nascent dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime, and her release
from house arrest last May, as indicators that perhaps external influence
was having some beneficial effect on the dictatorship.  But advocates of
engagement have little to show for it following last weekend’s assault on
the democrats.

	Burma’s junta must understand quite clearly that it will not enjoy
business as usual following its brutal attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and the
NLD.  It is time for the international community to acknowledge that the
status quo serves nobody’s interests except those of the regime: Burma’s
people suffer, its neighbors are embarrassed, companies cannot do the
kind of business they would with a free and developing Burma, the drug
lords flourish in a vacuum of governance, and the situation inside the
country grows more unstable as the regime’s misrule increasingly
radicalizes and impoverishes its people.

	No country or leader motivated by the welfare of the Burmese people, a
desire for regional stability and prosperity, or concern for Burma’s
place among nations can maintain that rule by the junta serves these
interests.  I find it hard to believe that any democratic government
would stand by the junta as it takes Burma on a forced march back in
time.  Yet this morning, when asked about the weekend’s assault, the
Japanese Foreign Minister denied that the situation in Burma was getting
worse, said progress is being made toward democratization, and announced
that Japan has no intention of changing its policy on Burma.  Music to
the junta’s ears, perhaps, but I believe friends of the Burmese people
must take a radically different, and principled, approach to a problem
that kind words will only exacerbate.

	The world cannot stand by as the ruination of this country continues any
farther.  Free Burma’s leaders, and her people, will remember which
nations stood with them in their struggle against oppression, and which
nations seemed to side with their oppressors.

	American and international policy towards Burma should reflect our
conviction that oppression and impunity must come to an end, and that the
regime must move towards a negotiated settlement with Aung San Suu Kyi
that grants her a leading and irreversible political role culminating in
free and fair national elections.  If it does not, the regime will not be
able to manage the transition, when it does come, for it will come
without its consent.
	I believe the United States should immediately expand the visa ban
against Burmese officials to include all members of the Union Solidarity
Development Association, which organized the attack against Aung San Suu
Kyi’s delegation last weekend.  The Administration should also
immediately issue an executive order freezing the U.S. assets of Burmese
leaders.  U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail should not travel to Burma as
planned this week unless he has assurances from the regime that he will
be able to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.

	Congress should promptly consider legislation banning Burmese imports
into the United States, and the Administration should encourage the
European Union to back up its commitment to human rights in Burma with
concrete steps in this direction.  The U.S. and the E.U. together account
for over 50 percent of Burma’s exports and therefore enjoy considerable
leverage against the regime.  The United States alone absorbs between 20
and 25 percent of Burma’s exports.  Consideration of a U.S. import ban
should help focus attention in Rangoon on the consequences of flagrantly
violating the human rights of the Burmese people and their chosen
leaders.  In coordination with a new U.S. initiative, an E.U. move in the
direction of punitive trade sanctions would make the regime’s continuing
repression difficult if not impossible to sustain.

	The junta’s latest actions are a desperate attempt by a decaying regime
to stall freedom’s inevitable progress, in Burma and across Asia.  They
will fail as surely as Aung San Suu Kyi’s campaign for a free Burma will
one day succeed.
____________

Javier SOLANA,
EU High Representative for
the Common Foreign and Security Policy,
urges the release of Aug San Suu Kyi



Javier Solana condemned today the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi by the
military government of Myanmar.

"This repressive behaviour confirms the regime's lack of interest in the
return to democracy. It will most certainly reinforce the European Union's
resolve to stick to the current policy of sanctions against the military
regime.

I urge Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release and the re-opening of the
offices of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Harassment and
intimidation of political opponents are totally inconsistent with the
Government's earlier promises to move towards dialogue with the
opposition."
_____________

[Unofficial translation by the Burma Information Network - Japan]

Transcript of the press conference of the Japanese Foreign Minister 9:17
a.m on 3 June, 2003. In the anteroom of the Diet (parliament)

Subject: On the detention of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi

[Question]
I want to ask you about the detention of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. The
statement came out yesterday [2 June, 2003] from the Press
Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
[http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2003/6/0602.html].  Has the
Japanese government approached the government of Myanmar in line with the
policy that appeared in the statement?

[Foreign Minister]
Yes, through our local embassy [in Rangoon].  We have been working on it
since the statement was released.

[Question]
We know you have been to Myanmar.  It can be said that Japan takes a
slightly different approach from the U.S. or European countries [towards
Myanmar].  As the tension between the opposition, and the military junta,
even if not so serious, has not been easy to solve, it seems that the
situation is getting worse than it was when you visited the country last
year [in May 2002.]  What is the thinking of the Japanese government,
given the current situation?

[Foreign Minister]
First of all, I do not think that the situation is getting worse. 
Although there was this incident [of the past week], when we look at the
release of political prisoners, there has been much progress, and progress
is being made toward democratization.  As this incident happened, we
issued a statement yesterday, but we would like to see how things go, and
at this point we have no intention of changing our policy on the country. 
We need to take a comprehensive view at the process of political
democratization, introduction of market economy, and stabilization of
society, all of which are important at any period in time and in any
situation, so we should wait to see how the situation develops, but at
this point, we are not considering changing our policy on Myanmar.
____________

PRESS RELEASE SUNDAY 1 JUNE 2003


MIKE O’BRIEN CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF BURMESE OPPOSITION LEADER AUNG
SAN SUU KYI

Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien today called for the immediate
release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of
her party  who are being detained under "protective custody" by the
Burmese regime.

The Burmese military authorities apparently took this step following the
deaths of four people and injuries to 50 others in a clash between Aung
San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and other groups.  Her
renewed detention comes just over a year after she was released from house
arrest, where she had spent much of the previous decade.

Mr O'Brien said:

"I am disturbed by the reports of violence between supporters of the
National League for Democracy (NLD) and opposing groups and extend my
deepest sympathies to those injured and the families of those killed.

Over the past few weeks I have been alarmed by persistent, credible
reports that the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), and
other groups supported by the military regime, have been inciting local
people into protests against the NLD.  It is not the first time such
pseudo-protestors have threatened violence against Daw Suu Kyi's party.

Embassy officials have been asked to call on senior  NLD leaders in
Rangoon to seek their version of events.

I call on the Burmese authorities to release immediately Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and other party members, and to take rapid action against the USDA and
others responsible for the provocation that led to this incident.


The United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative,  Razali,
will be arriving in Burma very soon for talks with the military
authorities and the NLD.  We attach great importance to his efforts, and
urge all sides to take this opportunity to move rapidly to a genuine
process of dialogue and political reform that could overcome this present
tension."

FCO Press Office: Duty Press Officer 020 7008 3100
______________

The Washington Post June 3 2003

Crackdown in Burma

"A BRUTAL ASSAULT" on freedom, said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and his
words appear to be, if anything, an understatement. The military regime
that has been gradually grinding the people of Burma into poverty and
repression alarmingly accelerated the process in the past few days. Aung
San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of her country, has been taken into
custody, the ruling generals announced. A number of her supporters in the
National League for Democracy have been killed, and a larger number have
been arrested. NLD offices have been closed, and schools and universities
throughout Burma (which the regime calls Myanmar) have been shuttered.
The motivation is clear. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, though they have
no access to newspapers or television, remain wildly popular. This
frightens the generals. As the official newspaper complained Sunday, the
democrats "made attempts to organize people to come out in crowds and made
political speeches at every opportunity." Not only that: "Their acts
violated traffic rules." The flailing of the generals would be comical
were it not so sad, given the ruination of a potentially prosperous
nation, and so dangerous, given that no one knows the whereabouts or
health of Aung San Suu Kyi. She and her party won an overwhelming victory
in a 1990 election but were not permitted to take office.
The Bush administration should vigorously protest this crackdown. A first
step would be to freeze all assets and ban entry into the United States of
all government officials and their paramilitary thugs. A United Nations
representative, Razali Ismail, who is due in Burma on Friday, should visit
Aung San Suu Kyi or should not visit at all.
Many countries have tried to coax the regime into better behavior. Japan,
Australia and Malaysia have argued that "engagement" and understanding
would lead to reconciliation and democratization. Now they should insist
on results: the safety of Burma's democracy leaders, first of all, and
then the dialogue that the junta has been promising. If they fail to
deliver such results, they should join with the United States, Britain and
other nations in what Mr. McConnell calls "forceful condemnation and
concrete sanctions." Backward movement on democracy will mean more
terrorism, drug dealing and instability throughout the region.
_______
Gazeta Wyborcza (Warsaw) June 2 2003

Military arrest Nobel Peace Prize laureate (translation)
By Dawid Warszawski

You cannot keep her in jail, for the world will protest. But you cannot
set her free either, for then the people will lift their heads. So: six
years of house arrest, and then five years of freedom. A year and a half
of house arrest again, and once again free for a year. When the military
junta which runs Burma yesterday arrested Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition
leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, it started a third cycle of
repression. In Burma, the military have tried everything: the bloody
slaughter of the opposition in 1988, and free elections two years later,
annulled as soon as Ms Suu Kyi’s party won. Talks with the opposition
leader, promoted then to “honorable Burmese woman”, and hate campaigns
against her, then denounced as a “foreigner’s concubine” (her husband, an
Englishman, was denied entry to Burma and died in Britain, never seeing
his wife again). The military – the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, renamed State Peace and Cooperation Council – even changed the
country’s name to Myanmar. One thing they never tried is to give up power,
without which law and order in Burma, not to mention peace and
cooperation, will never be possible. Ms Suu Kyi guaranteed that the
transition to democracy is possible without violence. The generals do not
trust her, and they might be right: they have shed too much blood.
Arresting her for a third time, they only increase the chances that their,
and not her prognosis might turn to be right.
_________

Human Rights Watch June 3 2003

Burma: Release Aung San Suu Kyi, Investigate Attacks
(New York, June 3, 2003) – Burma should immediately release opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other recently detained activists and allow
the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation into attacks
that left several dead and dozens injured, Human Rights Watch said today.
Aung San Suu Kyi and at least 17 officials of her political party, the
National League for Democracy (NLD), were detained after a clash in the
town of Ye-u on May 30, after reportedly being attacked by members of the
Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), a government-created
organization that has increasingly taken on a paramilitary character. 
According to military officials, four people were killed and fifty injured
in the attack. Aung San Suu Kyi has officially been placed in “protective
custody,” but her whereabouts remain unknown, raising concerns about her
condition.
Aung San Suu Kyi had spent the last month touring northern and central
Burma, attracting large crowds of supporters and, according to press
reports, growing harassment from armed USDA members. Following the
incident, the government shut the country’s universities as well as
several offices of the NLD.
“This looks like a deliberate attempt by the government to provoke
violence to justify a crackdown,” said Brad Adams, director of the Asia
Division of Human Rights Watch.  “Unless the government gets the message
that this is unacceptable, there’s clearly the potential for more
bloodshed.”
Human Rights Watch called for the release of those detained and all others
imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their views in Burma. It also
urged the Burmese government to hold accountable any member of the
military or the USDA found responsible for the violence, and to permit the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro, to conduct an independent investigation into the attack on Aung
San Suu Kyi and her party.
“The government needs to stop persecuting its critics and start serious
talks about making the transition to a rights-respecting member of the
international community,” Adams said.
Human Rights Watch urged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan not to send his
Special Envoy, Razali Ismail, back to Burma as planned without specific
assurances from the Burmese authorities that Aung San Suu Kyi will be
freed and able to speak privately to Razali.
“The United Nations and the international community need to make it clear
that it will not be business as usual after these attacks,” said Adams.
For more information, please contact:
In New York, Brad Adams: +1 212 216 1228
In Washington D.C., Tom Malinowski: +1 202 612 4358
In Brussels, Vanessa Saenen: +322 732 2009