Daily News- May 08- 2002- Wednesday

  • Aung San Suu Kyi to make first visit abroad to Norway
  • Myanmar dissident's release sparks currency rally, gold price drop
  • Aung San Suu Kyi release good, but not enough: US papers
  • Rights Groups Skeptical of Democracy Rebirth
  • Suu Kyi gets down to work at Myanmar opposition HQ
  • Suu Kyi reassures Burma's minorities
  • Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi keeping low-profile after release

    • Aung San Suu Kyi to make first visit abroad to Norway

    OSLO, May 7 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday her first visit abroad following her release from house arrest would be to Norway, home of the Nobel Peace Prize.

    "It has always been my intention that once I am able to travel abroad, Norway should be the first foreign country that I visit," she told Norwegian television TV2 in a telephone interview."The people of Norway have a very special place in my heart," she said.

    Suu Kyi was awarded the prestigious prize in 1991, but was unable to travel to Oslo to collect the honour due to her house arrest and travel restrictions placed on her by Myanmar's military regime.The award was instead handed over to her family.

    On Monday, the interim head of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njoelstad, said Suu Kyi had a "standing invitation" to visit the Scandinavian country.

    No date has been set for her visit to Norway.

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    Myanmar dissident's release sparks currency rally, gold price drop

    YANGON, May 7 (AFP) - Myanmar's currency rallied from all-time lows and the gold price dropped by a quarter Tuesday after the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi boosted sentiment in the military-run country.

    The kyat currency stood at 820 to the dollar on the black market late Tuesday, back to normal levels after plummeting to an all-time low of 1,200 earlier this month.

    Gold prices also dropped by around 25 percent, restoring the rate to levels seen before the regime announced in early March that relatives of former dictator Ne Win had attempted to mount a military coup.The precious metal is still sought after here as a safe haven in times of political instability.

    Yangon businesspeople said the improving financial picture was directly related to the ruling junta's decision to free Aung San Suu Kyi after 19 months under house arrest."Obviously it's because of The Lady's release," a local businessman said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi by her popular nickname.

    The non-convertible kyat is officially traded at six to the dollar, but the far more commonly used exchange rate is set by black-market dealers.When the kyat crashed through the 1,000 mark in late April the military government began rounding up illegal traders in an attempt to suppress speculation.Myanmar's economy is in a parlous state, thanks to the heavy weight of international sanctions combined with with gross economic mismanagement.

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    Aung San Suu Kyi release good, but not enough: US papers

    WASHINGTON, May 7 (AFP) - The release from 19 months of house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's democratic opposition, is a step in the right direction but the United States should not rush just yet to reward the dictatorship, leading US dailies said Tuesday.

    "Myanmar has claimed that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's liberty will be unconditional, but the government must prove that it is granting her and her political party full freedoms," said The New York Times.The daily recalled that in Aung San Suu Kyi's "Gandhian struggle" she was released in 1995 from arrest only to see her activities severely restricted and end up again behind bars.

    The Washington Post agreed, quoting a Human Rights Watch official who wondered "whether her cage has been removed or simply enlarged.""The hope is that a first step has been taken toward real political change, " the Post said, urging the military junta to end repression, slave and child labor, the killing of ethnic minorities and open the universities.

    Until clear improvements are seen in Myanmar, governments should not rush to lift the economic sanctions that finally prompted the Yangon regime to release the 59-year-old Nobel peace laureate, both dailies suggest.

    The Post cautions "the usual alliance of energy and textiles corporations, public relations firms specializing in thug-spin and Japanese officials chasing the earliest contracts" not to insist that the Myanmar regime should be rewarded.

    "How wonderful that Aung San Suu Kyi, who was locked up 19 months ago for daring to buy a train ticket to the northern Burmese city of Mandalay, can leave her house again! Let's roll out the red carpet for her jailers," a sarcastic Post added.

    If aid to Myanmar resumes, said the Times, "it should not flow without restrictions."Humanitarian aid is urgent, but should be administered by non-governmental groups or by a committee that includes opposition leaders and government officials," the New York daily added.

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    Rights Groups Skeptical of Democracy Rebirth

    Carol Nahra,OneWorld UK

    Human rights organizations are warning that the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi does not mean that the reintroduction of democracy to military-ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is imminent.

    While rights groups welcomed Monday's unconditional release of the National League for Democracy leader from house arrest, they cautioned that it should not be taken as a sign that Myanmar's governing junta was moving towards democracy.

    "This should not be mistaken for any early outbreak of democracy in Burma just yet," said Yvette Mahon of Burma Campaign UK. "There are 1500 political prisoners yet to be released, millions in forced labor, and refugees in all the country's borders. And as yet there is no clear agenda for political reform," she said.

    Micheline Levesque, Asia Regional Officer at Canada-based Rights and Democracy, pointed to Suu Kyi's last release in 1995 after six years of house arrest, which raised hopes among the international community that political change was on the horizon.

    "But all political prisoners stayed in jail and human rights violations continued," said Levesque, who added that her organization remains "very cautious about making conclusions about her release. It's only the beginning of a very, very, very, long process."

    Despite this, rights groups are calling for the United States sanctions on new investments in the country--which were introduced in 1997 in response to human rights violations and concerns about the junta's alleged involvement in the heroin trade--to continue until real progress is made.

    "It's international pressure that has gotten us that far," said Mahon. "It must be maintained if there is to be any kind of next stage. Any premature relieving of measures currently in place could derail the whole process."

    According to Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, the international community should increase pressure on Myanmar to comply with agreed standards on human rights, while at the same time leaving room for dialogue.

    "Before any existing sanctions are lifted, Burma should implement key recommendations adopted unanimously by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva last week," he added.

    The Commission's resolution called on Myanmar, among other things, to release all political prisoners; end practices of torture and forced labor; allow freedom and expression, movement and assembly; the right to a fair trial; and to protect the rights of ethnic and religious minorities.

    Levesque says it remains to be seen whether Suu Kyi's release might have been motivated by the international community losing patience with the slow pace of the "confidence building" talks.

    "Is this a trick from SPDC to show they're doing something or are they really committed to finding a political solution to establishing democracy in Burma? That's what we want to know," said Levesque.

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    Suu Kyi gets down to work at Myanmar opposition HQ

    YANGON(Reuters) May 8 - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, newly released from 19 months in house arrest, met United Nations officials on Wednesday as she began efforts to revitalise her party and press for democracy.

    U Lwin, secretary of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), said the 56-year-old Nobel peace laureate would spend mornings at her lakeside residence receiving guests, and would come to the party headquarters each weekday afternoon. Party workers have prepared an office for her in the dilapidated party building, complete with an air-conditioning unit to combat the stifling heat.

    Suu Kyi, who has vowed to support the international economic embargo on Myanmar, was freed on Monday by the military junta and says there are no restrictions on her movement. This will be tested soon when she makes her first attempt to travel outside Yangon.U Lwin said Suu Kyi planned a trip outside the capital soon to help organise party activists in other areas.

    Her most recent spell in house arrest came after she made a number of high-profile attempts to travel outside Yangon in 2000 in defiance of travel restrictions. A bid to travel south of the capital by road in August 2000 led to a nine-day roadside stand-off when police blocked her car. She was eventually forcibly returned home, sparking an outcry from the international community. A month later Suu Kyi was stopped from travelling by rail to the city of Mandalay, and placed under house arrest, where she remained until her release this week. Suu Kyi's first attempt to leave Yangon will be a test of how much leeway the military regime will offer her.

    CONCILIATORY APPROACH

    Analysts say she seems to be taking a more conciliatory approach this time, trying to avoid actively embarrassing the ruling generals. She has agreed that the road to her house, once a focal point for protest, should remain closed for the moment.

    U Lwin said Suu Kyi's planned trips outside Yangon would also be low-key. ''I have talked with the responsible officials twice about her organisational trips but we do not intend to let the media know in advance before she sets out,'' he said.

    Suu Kyi's release was widely seen by diplomats as an attempt by the generals to get sanctions lifted rather than the start of genuine momentum for political change.

    The military has ruled Myanmar for four decades, and says the multi-ethnic country could disintegrate if it moves towards democracy too quickly, but the desperate state of the economy may have forced their hands.

    Suu Kyi has said she remains opposed to foreign investment, aid and tourism while the military held power, but was looking forward to political progress.

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    Suu Kyi reassures Burma's minorities

    source :BBC

    Burma's freed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has told the country's ethnic minority leaders that they will be included in democracy talks with the ruling military government.

    Khun Tun Oo, a leader of the Shan ethnic minority, said Aung San Suu Kyi had given the reassurance during talks following her release from house arrest on Monday.

    As Aung San Suu Kyi continued to catch up with party business, Burma's ambassador to Britain, Kway Win, ruled out an early return to multi-party democracy but said that was the ultimate goal. In an interview with the BBC, the diplomat said that following the democracy leader's release, Burma had "probably arrived at a milestone in the political transition process".

    Minority fears

    Burma's eight major ethnic groups and 135 subgroups have been waging insurgencies for political autonomy since the country's independence from Britain in 1948, although all but the Shan have since struck deals with the government. Their leaders feared being sidelined from the democracy movement, which is dominated by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

    "I'm happy with the assurance by Daw Suu to let the ethnic groups participate in the talks at an appropriate time," said Khun Tun Oo, a leader of the Shan group.

    But Mr Win stressed to the BBC that democracy would be a gradual process: "We do not see anything dramatic happening immediately concerning... a fully established Western democratic-style political movements taking place, but there is almost no doubt that the ultimate objective is the establishment of a multi-party democratic system," he told the World Today programme.

    Although Aung San Suu Kyi has been released without restrictions on her movement, a source from the NLD told AFP news agency that she would not leave the capital Rangoon for the next few days. But Aung San Suu Kyi did reveal in an interview with a Norwegian television station that her first trip abroad would be to Norway, AFP reported.

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    Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi keeping low-profile after release

    Source : AFP

    Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is keeping a low profile after her release from house arrest, focusing on putting her party back on track and meeting its members, officials said.

    "She has to address some of the immediate administrative aspects of the party, and get things back on the road," a source from the National League for Democracy (NLD) told AFP.

    "For the next few days she won't be venturing anywhere," he said, adding that she would be holding meetings with the eight other members of the party's decision-making Central Executive Committee.

    She also plans to meet the NLD's women's and youth groups and its Rangoon Division Organising Committee over the next few days, he added.

    The democracy campaigners returned to work on Tuesday following her release the day before from 19 months of house arrest at her famous lakeside villa, on the orders of the ruling military regime.

    Although Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters Monday that there were no conditions attached to her release and she is free to travel where she wishes, she indicated that she was likely to stay in Rangoon for the time being.

    "She has not scheduled meetings with any outsiders but will be settling inner-party things before venturing out to townships," the party source said. "This will not be for the next few days or even next week."

    Observers have said that as she turns her hand to reviving the party, Aung San Suu Kyi will maintain a discreet profile in order not to provoke the military regime, in a new spirit of cooperation between the two sides.

    "She will continue to test the waters to see where she can go and what she can do," said one Rangoon-based diplomat.

    But in a telephone interview with a Norwegian television station she did reveal that her first visit abroad would be to Norway, home of the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in 1991.

    "It has always been my intention that once I am able to travel abroad, Norway should be the first foreign country that I visit," she said.

    The NLD headquarters in downtown Rangoon, scenes of jubilant scenes earlier in the week, was relatively quiet Wednesday.

    After the departure of the foreign media, who were all ordered to leave by Tuesday, Burmese journalists working for international outlets patiently hung around, awaiting a statement from the party on Aung San Suu Kyi's release.

    "The NLD may release a statement concerning her release, which they were drafting yesterday but didn't issue," another NLD source said.

    On her first day of freedom Tuesday, ambassadors from Britain, France, Germany and Italy visited her home to be briefed on the progress of the secret talks she has been holding with the junta since October 2000.

    She then headed to work at the NLD headquarters where she was warmly greeted by 100 supporters eagerly awaiting her arrival.

    The effects of her release have already been felt on Burma's frail finance system, with the currency rallying from all-time lows and the price of gold -- still considered a safe haven in times of trouble -- dropping by a quarter Tuesday.

    The kyat currency stood at 820 to the dollar on the black market late Tuesday, back to normal levels after plummeting to an all-time low of 1,200 earlier this month.

    Gold prices also fell to levels seen before the regime announced in early March that relatives of former dictator Ne Win had attempted to mount a military coup.

    "Obviously it's because of The Lady's release," a local businessman said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi by her popular nickname.

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