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Suu Kyi gets more world support |
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August 31, 2000
YANGON (AP) - The government on Wednesday accused opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi of craving international attention as her six-day-old roadside standoff with authorities received more support around the world. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel peace prize for her pro-democracy campaign in Myanmar, prepared to spend a seventh night in the open in the Yangon suburb of Dala where she was stopped by police Thursday while driving to the countryside for party work. She has refused to go back to Yangon. She and 14 other party members have spent the past week in a makeshift camp set up in the muddy mosquito-infested area where their two vehicles were moved. Meanwhile, Myanmar's military government has come under criticism from around the world. Neighbor Thailand warned that the standoff could hurt relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union, which imposes sanctions on Myanmar for its human rights record. Myanmar, or Burma, is a member of the 10-nation ASEAN. "Thailand has expressed concern over the situation. If it is prolonged it may have a negative impact on ASEAN's relationship with the EU," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Don Pramudvinai told The Associated Press in Bangkok. In Yangon, a government statement said that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party should cooperate in "a responsible and meaningful way to (fulfill) national goals instead of flashing symbolic gestures designed merely to attract attention." It said other countries should encourage the NLD "to become a responsible and constructive force." At an annual meeting of Nordic foreign ministers on Tuesday, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden said they "condemn the Burmese government's infringement" of Suu Kyi's democratic rights. Also Tuesday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Secretary-general Kofi Annan "is increasingly concerned about the well-being" of Suu Kyi, 55 and other NLD leaders accompanying her. Eckhard noted that they "have been denied freedom of movement." Suu Kyi has been at odds with the government since she led a pro-democracy uprising against the military in 1988. She was put under house arrest a year later and let out in 1995, but her movements remain severely restricted. Thursday was the first time she had driven out of Yangon in two years. The last time was in August 1998, when her car was stopped and she stayed put in the vehicle for 13 days. Hoping to portray Suu Kyi's actions as a publicity stunt, the government statement Wednesday said people "seem indifferent to this incident and are carrying on with their daily life ... as usual." A Myanmar government Web site has published daily pictures of Suu Kyi's party members washing themselves, buying food or exercising. The government statement has described them as taking rest in the "charming town" of Dala. But it also appeared that the government's patience with Suu Kyi's defiance is wearing thin. It said late Tuesday said Suu Kyi and the others were blocked in order to "protect them from being harmed by those who have sound reasons for resentment and indignation toward her." The statement said people are angry with her for "breaking their rice bowls" by advocating anti-foreign investment and anti-tourism policies which have caused unemployment. The NLD dismissed such reactions as stage-managed and propaganda. "We believe that the public love her and no harm can ever come to her from the ordinary public," a senior NLD leader, Nyunt Wai, told The Associated Press.
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