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Myanmar official defends government action against opposition |
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September 9, 2000
UNITED NATIONS, SEPT 8 (AP) - Myanmar's foreign minister on Thursday rejected charges his government mistreats opposition leaders, saying it merely had to take "preventive action" against those who want to lead the country to anarchy. Win Aung, who was addressing the United Nations Millennium Summit, admitted that his government was taking measures "to prevent anarchy and the disintegration of the country." But while doing so "the government handles the situation in a most humanitarian manner," he said. His denial followed reports that Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy, and eight other top leaders have been confined in their homes since Saturday in the latest crackdown by the country's ruling military junta. The West has criticized the action as a gross violation of human rights. "Myanmar is building democracy in our own way," Win Aung said. It was wrong for other states to want to impose their methods of government on others, he said. He said that "in our country that faced a conflict, the guns have been silenced. And yet there are those who want to stir up tranquil waters. Then we have to take preventive measures." "We have to respect the 15 million people who want to preserve the peace, we do not want to see any movement which would lead the country back to total anarchy and disintegration," he said. Myanmar's government has kept the Suu Kyi's opposition group on a tight leash since 1988, when she led pro-democracy demonstrations. The league overwhelmingly won the country's 1990 general elections, but the military barred it from taking office. In New York on Wednesday, U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair used their speeches before the summit to denounce the junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma. "We face a clear moral test today in Burma, where a popular leader who has struggled peacefully for dialogue has once again been confined, with her supporters imprisoned and her country in distress, all in defiance of repeated U.N. resolutions," Clinton said.
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