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Thailand supports upcoming UN mission to Myanmar |
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September 30, 2000
BANGKOK, (AP) - Thailand voiced support Friday for a United Nations mission to break the political deadlock inside Myanmar, warning the situation there could deteriorate and affect other countries in the region. A Thai Foreign Ministry statement urged Myanmar's military government and pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to cooperate with U.N. envoy Razali Ismail, a former Malaysian diplomat, who will visit Myanmar in the second week of October. On Thursday, Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan met with Razali, who was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April to promote human rights and broker political reconciliation in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Without an urgent improvement, "the situation (in Myanmar) will only deteriorate. The impact will not be limited only to inside Myanmar, but will affect the region as Myanmar is also an ASEAN member," the Thai statement said. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Thailand, admitted Yangon in 1997, despite Western opposition because of Myanmar's poor human rights record. ASEAN nations rarely comment on the internal affairs of a fellow members. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy swept 1990 general elections in Myanmar but was barred from taking power by the military, that has jailed hundreds of her followers and heavily restricts the NLD leader's movements. The long-running war of wills between Suu Kyi and the regime, which has ignored the pro-democracy leader's long-standing calls for political talks between them, has escalated since Razali's first visit to Myanmar in June. Since Sept. 22, Suu Kyi and other leaders of her party have been under virtual house arrest after her second attempt in one month to travel outside Yangon was blocked by authorities. The regime's actions drew renewed international criticism. The Thai statement called for a political dialogue between the two sides to promote national reconciliation for the benefit of the "majority of Myanmar people." Political and economic improvements inside Myanmar would ease burdens that Thailand had "shouldered for years," it said. Thailand is frustrated at the social effects of drugs produced in Myanmar and trafficked to Thailand and plays reluctant host to hundreds of thousands of refugees and illegal Myanmar migrants. On Thursday the European Union demanded Myanmar ease restrictions on Suu Kyi, saying it was deeply concerned at the situation of the NLD leader, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her democracy struggle. Razali's predecessor as envoy to Myanmar, Alvaro de Soto, visited the country six times but made no headway in breaking the political deadlock.
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