BURMESE POLITICAL CONDITIONS APPALING, SAYS UN ENVOY

Paris, November 11, 2003 - Combat Bulletin

The right-wing military have secured power in Myanmar (Southeast Asia) in 1958 and prevented any further democratic government to come up. Non-violent resistance led by the National League for Democracy has been met with utter brutality and endless repression.

In 1988, as students rioted against lack of freedom and economical stagnation, thousands of protesters were killed and hundreds of thousands had to leave the country or take refuge in its rainforested mountains (where long-repressed ethnic minorities like the Karen and Chan have been fighting a decades-long guerrilla against the burmese generals). The crackdown caused worldwide indignation and was reported in american movei "Beyond Rangoon", starred by actress Patricia Arquette.

In 1990, the opposition won the national elections by landslide, but the Junta refused to acknowledge the results and imprisoned the NLD leaders. Most prominent among the prisioners was Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi, a british-educated lawyer and daughter of a burmese national independence hero killed in 1948. Mrs. Aung was awarded the Peace Nobel Prize in 1991 for her efforts in the burmese peoples' struggle for freedom.

After many years of negotiations and ocasional waves of repression, new protests broke up in May 2003, to which the military answered with new massive arrests. Offers were made for Mrs Aung to be released this month, but she refused to be let out as long as other prisioners stay in jail.

The UN envoy says he found her in good health and disposition, and that she stressed again the need for international support of the burmese cause. The situation in her country is mostly by mainstream media skipped since the events of September 11, 2001. Also, US and european administrations seem to find the Junta a most stable partner in these times of turmoil, and pressure over the military to re-establish civil rule and freedoms has amounted to nothing in the last decade.

On the other hand, Internet has opened new channels of communication for the burmese opposition (Mrs Aung personal pages provide most information at htttp://dassk.com) and hope that the recently-awaken worldwide activist network will help them to bring some public opinion focus on the struggle for democracy in this forgotten land.