Myanmar military reveals little about Suu Kyi's status
By Rafael D. Frankel
Special to the Tribune
Published June 2, 2003
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the central committee of her National League for Democracy were being held incommunicado by the military government Monday as universities across the country were ordered shut in what analysts said was a new crackdown on the democracy movement in the former Burma.
For a full day there was no word about where the military was holding Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate who was detained after a violent confrontation Friday night in the northern town of Ye-U. The military has not confirmed reports that she is back in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, and has not indicated what it intends to do with her. It has only said she was in "protective custody."
Sources told The Associated Press that Suu Kyi was in custody in the capital.
The military took 20 National League members into custody and placed the group's central committee members under house arrest in Yangon. The crackdown occurred after clashes in the north between pro-government demonstrators and Suu Kyi supporters left at least four people dead and 50 injured.
The military also closed the party's headquarters in the capital, along with at least six other offices across the nation, reports from Myanmar said.
Held incommunicado
No detained members of the league, including Suu Kyi, have been allowed outside contact. Telephone lines to the homes of league members in Yangon were cut.
The military said Suu Kyi is unharmed.
"We have been denied the opportunity to talk to any of the members of the NLD central committee and have been given no word from the government on when that could happen," said a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Yangon.
The closing of all universities and colleges, traditionally hotbeds of political unrest in Myanmar, was announced late Sunday, and many students had not heard the news. Education and security officials turned students away at campuses.
The crackdown has been fomenting for months, analysts said.
Even after 12 years of absence from the public eye, Suu Kyi was greeted by thousands of well-wishers in her initial travels outside Yangon last year.
"Clearly, she was still just too popular for the generals' taste," a longtime political analyst in Yangon said Monday.
The analyst said it remains to be seen whether the military's actions will ultimately lead to the end of the democracy movement in Myanmar.
"This is probably another crackdown like we've seen before," he said, likening the military's actions to similar ones in 1988, 1996 and 1998.
According to the military, Suu Kyi and the 19 party members accompanying her on a political trip to the northern part of the country spent Friday night in Ye-U after their detention.
In statements since the clashes, the military junta, which has ruled Myanmar since crushing a popular uprising in 1988, blamed Suu Kyi and her followers for the violence, saying they made inflammatory speeches.
The NLD members were "under temporary protective custody," Brig. Than Tun said. It was still unclear who was killed in the violence.
Suspicions about arrest
Pro-democracy activists say the military has been inciting violence against Suu Kyi for months and is using the clashes to justify arresting her again.
"This is an unprecedented level of violence targeted at her directly," said Debbie Stafford, the Burma coordinator for Altsean, a regional pro-democracy group. "It's very clear that the military would have orchestrated an incident like this to teach Suu Kyi a lesson, so that she would not get too big and too popular, so that she would not go out of Rangoon."
Suu Kyi has twice been placed under house arrest, where she spent much of the last 12 years.
Her party overwhelmingly won national elections in 1990 only to see the results nullified by the military and the future Nobel Peace Prize winner denied freedoms. Suu Kyi was released in May 2002 with the promise she was free to travel throughout Myanmar to promote a national reconciliation dialogue agreed to by the military and her supporters.
On Sunday, U.S. Charge d'Affaires Carmen Martinez accompanied her British, German and Italian counterparts to the home of longtime democracy league spokesman U Luwin. The home was under armed guard, the U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
The diplomats were met at the residence by representatives of the Military Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Ministry who insisted Luwin and other league members were not under house arrest or protective custody, the embassy spokesman said.
However, the diplomats were refused entrance and any communication with Luwin.
©2003 The Chicago Tribune
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Thursday, June 12, 2003
4 suspected of targeting embassies in Thailand
By Rafael D. Frankel
Special to the Tribune
Published June 12, 2003
BANGKOK -- Three men arrested in Thailand and a fourth being held in Singapore are members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian group linked to Al Qaeda, and were plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy and four other foreign missions here, Thai and Singaporean authorities said Wednesday.
The three Thai men and one Singaporean are suspected of planning to bomb the Bangkok embassies of Britain, Israel, Australia and Singapore, as well as popular tourist venues in Thailand, said Lt. Gen. Chumporn Manmai, the commissioner of Thailand's police intelligence unit.
Interrogations in Singapore of Arifin bin Ali, a suspect in the bombing plot, led to the surveillance and eventual arrest of the three Thai men in the far southern province Narathiwat.
"Arifin has disclosed to the Internal Security Department that he is involved with a group of like-minded individuals in planning terrorist attacks against certain targets in Thailand," a statement from Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said.
The plan to bomb the embassies was in the early stages, Chumporn indicated, as the three did not possess explosives or bombmaking material.
However, a document detailing part of their plans was found by Thai police, a spokesman for the Thai prime minister said.
Though arrested in Bangkok on May 16, it was not until Tuesday that Singaporean authorities announced they were holding Arifin, the suspected ringleader. He was taken into custody on immigration violations by Thai police but flown to Singapore a day later at the request of Singaporean intelligence units, Singaporean and Thai sources confirmed.
Arifin said he was a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, and accounts from other members in custody corroborate his story, Singapore's home affairs spokesman said Wednesday. Arifin trained other Jemaah Islamiyah members in military operations and security and was experienced in handling weapons and explosives, the spokesman said.
A plot by Jemaah Islamiyah to blow up the American, Australian and Israeli Embassies in Singapore last year was foiled by Singaporean and Malaysian authorities.
Singaporean intelligence, widely respected throughout Asia, believes Arafin originally went to Narathiwat before moving to Bangkok in January 2002.
Arafin was "on his way to a meeting" when he was picked up by police in Bangkok, Chumporn said. "We don't know who it was with."
Singapore is holding Arafin for interrogation under its Internal Security Act, which allows for detaining suspects indefinitely without charges.
Information provided to Thailand by Singapore from those interrogations led to surveillance being placed on Maisuri Haji Abdulloh, his son Muyahi Haji Doloh and Waemahadi Wae-dao just days before their arrests Tuesday.
The three are now in Bangkok, where Thai police have begun interrogating them.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy here on Wednesday praised Thailand and Singapore for their efforts to fight terrorism.
"It was a rapid and effective response on the part of Thai authorities to apprehend people" suspected of planning terrorist activities, the spokesman said. "It says very good things about the coordination between two members of [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations]."
©2003 The Chicago Tribune
Special to the Tribune
Published June 12, 2003
BANGKOK -- Three men arrested in Thailand and a fourth being held in Singapore are members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian group linked to Al Qaeda, and were plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy and four other foreign missions here, Thai and Singaporean authorities said Wednesday.
The three Thai men and one Singaporean are suspected of planning to bomb the Bangkok embassies of Britain, Israel, Australia and Singapore, as well as popular tourist venues in Thailand, said Lt. Gen. Chumporn Manmai, the commissioner of Thailand's police intelligence unit.
Interrogations in Singapore of Arifin bin Ali, a suspect in the bombing plot, led to the surveillance and eventual arrest of the three Thai men in the far southern province Narathiwat.
"Arifin has disclosed to the Internal Security Department that he is involved with a group of like-minded individuals in planning terrorist attacks against certain targets in Thailand," a statement from Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said.
The plan to bomb the embassies was in the early stages, Chumporn indicated, as the three did not possess explosives or bombmaking material.
However, a document detailing part of their plans was found by Thai police, a spokesman for the Thai prime minister said.
Though arrested in Bangkok on May 16, it was not until Tuesday that Singaporean authorities announced they were holding Arifin, the suspected ringleader. He was taken into custody on immigration violations by Thai police but flown to Singapore a day later at the request of Singaporean intelligence units, Singaporean and Thai sources confirmed.
Arifin said he was a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, and accounts from other members in custody corroborate his story, Singapore's home affairs spokesman said Wednesday. Arifin trained other Jemaah Islamiyah members in military operations and security and was experienced in handling weapons and explosives, the spokesman said.
A plot by Jemaah Islamiyah to blow up the American, Australian and Israeli Embassies in Singapore last year was foiled by Singaporean and Malaysian authorities.
Singaporean intelligence, widely respected throughout Asia, believes Arafin originally went to Narathiwat before moving to Bangkok in January 2002.
Arafin was "on his way to a meeting" when he was picked up by police in Bangkok, Chumporn said. "We don't know who it was with."
Singapore is holding Arafin for interrogation under its Internal Security Act, which allows for detaining suspects indefinitely without charges.
Information provided to Thailand by Singapore from those interrogations led to surveillance being placed on Maisuri Haji Abdulloh, his son Muyahi Haji Doloh and Waemahadi Wae-dao just days before their arrests Tuesday.
The three are now in Bangkok, where Thai police have begun interrogating them.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy here on Wednesday praised Thailand and Singapore for their efforts to fight terrorism.
"It was a rapid and effective response on the part of Thai authorities to apprehend people" suspected of planning terrorist activities, the spokesman said. "It says very good things about the coordination between two members of [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations]."
©2003 The Chicago Tribune
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Myanmar: Suu Kyi detention is temporary
By Rafael D. Frankel
Special to the Tribune
Published June 11, 2003
BANGKOK -- The military junta that rules Myanmar allowed a UN envoy to meet with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, and the government later said she would be freed "as soon as the situation returns to normal."
"I can assure you she is well and in good spirits," UN envoy Razali Ismail said after the meeting with Suu Kyi, who has been held by the junta since a violent clash May 30 in northern Myanmar between her followers and junta supporters.
Military personnel accompanied Razali at the hourlong meeting with Suu Kyi, the first access granted to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the junta took her into "protective custody." The junta has not disclosed where she is being held or where the meeting took place.
Razali said Suu Kyi had "no scratches on her face . . . no broken arm." Some reports from pro-democracy groups said Suu Kyi had suffered a head injury and a broken arm in the clash with junta supporters.
Razali, who flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after the meeting, said the military gave him no indication of how long it plans to hold Suu Kyi and hundreds of her National League for Democracy supporters.
Later in the day, the military reiterated that Suu Kyi's detention was temporary. Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win issued a statement saying a decision to release her would be made when the situation is "normal" again.
More diplomatic activity is likely to ensue as the United States and other Western countries consider moves to pressure the junta.
"The important thing is to release her and not move back to the status quo," a U.S. Embassy spokesman said in Yangon, Myanmar's capital. "The military has to move ahead and show they are truly committed to national reconciliation."
The U.S. has imposed travel restrictions on Myanmar officials, and a ban on imports from Myanmar is under consideration. The U.S. also has asked the junta's close trading partners--including China, Thailand and Singapore--to take a tough stand against the crackdown, according to a Western diplomat in Yangon.
China in particular has strong influence in Myanmar, the diplomat said. "If they told the military to [release Suu Kyi], they would," the diplomat said.
But whether China stands ready to join the West in demanding the release of Suu Kyi's supporters is questionable, and the United States has yet to determine whether it wants to spend a large amount of political capital in Beijing on the situation in Myanmar.
The United States also will be watching for signs of civil unrest associated with the crackdown, the U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
A popular uprising in 1988 brought down the socialist government in Myanmar, then known as Burma. Once the government was ousted, the military, which had supported the uprising, crushed it and has ruled ever since.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections in a landslide, but the military nullified the results and placed her under two separate house arrests in the next 12 years.
In a twist to the military's account of the May 30 events, an officer from the Foreign Affairs Ministry told diplomats Tuesday that the four killed and 48 wounded were only those who came to the hospital to seek treatment, a second Western diplomat said.
Evidence uncovered by the U.S. at the scene of the May 30 altercation points to a "premeditated ambush" of Suu Kyi's motorcade, the embassy spokesman said. U.S. officials think scores may have been killed and hundreds injured.
©2003 The Chicago Tribune
Special to the Tribune
Published June 11, 2003
BANGKOK -- The military junta that rules Myanmar allowed a UN envoy to meet with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, and the government later said she would be freed "as soon as the situation returns to normal."
"I can assure you she is well and in good spirits," UN envoy Razali Ismail said after the meeting with Suu Kyi, who has been held by the junta since a violent clash May 30 in northern Myanmar between her followers and junta supporters.
Military personnel accompanied Razali at the hourlong meeting with Suu Kyi, the first access granted to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the junta took her into "protective custody." The junta has not disclosed where she is being held or where the meeting took place.
Razali said Suu Kyi had "no scratches on her face . . . no broken arm." Some reports from pro-democracy groups said Suu Kyi had suffered a head injury and a broken arm in the clash with junta supporters.
Razali, who flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after the meeting, said the military gave him no indication of how long it plans to hold Suu Kyi and hundreds of her National League for Democracy supporters.
Later in the day, the military reiterated that Suu Kyi's detention was temporary. Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win issued a statement saying a decision to release her would be made when the situation is "normal" again.
More diplomatic activity is likely to ensue as the United States and other Western countries consider moves to pressure the junta.
"The important thing is to release her and not move back to the status quo," a U.S. Embassy spokesman said in Yangon, Myanmar's capital. "The military has to move ahead and show they are truly committed to national reconciliation."
The U.S. has imposed travel restrictions on Myanmar officials, and a ban on imports from Myanmar is under consideration. The U.S. also has asked the junta's close trading partners--including China, Thailand and Singapore--to take a tough stand against the crackdown, according to a Western diplomat in Yangon.
China in particular has strong influence in Myanmar, the diplomat said. "If they told the military to [release Suu Kyi], they would," the diplomat said.
But whether China stands ready to join the West in demanding the release of Suu Kyi's supporters is questionable, and the United States has yet to determine whether it wants to spend a large amount of political capital in Beijing on the situation in Myanmar.
The United States also will be watching for signs of civil unrest associated with the crackdown, the U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
A popular uprising in 1988 brought down the socialist government in Myanmar, then known as Burma. Once the government was ousted, the military, which had supported the uprising, crushed it and has ruled ever since.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections in a landslide, but the military nullified the results and placed her under two separate house arrests in the next 12 years.
In a twist to the military's account of the May 30 events, an officer from the Foreign Affairs Ministry told diplomats Tuesday that the four killed and 48 wounded were only those who came to the hospital to seek treatment, a second Western diplomat said.
Evidence uncovered by the U.S. at the scene of the May 30 altercation points to a "premeditated ambush" of Suu Kyi's motorcade, the embassy spokesman said. U.S. officials think scores may have been killed and hundreds injured.
©2003 The Chicago Tribune
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Bush, Thai leader to meet today
War on terrorism is likely focus of talks
By Rafael D. Frankel, Globe Correspondent, 6/10/2003
BANGKOK -- When President Bush and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand meet today at the White House, they will probably focus on Thailand's quiet cooperation in the war on terrorism -- the issue that has defined US relations with all Southeast Asian countries since Sept. 11, 2001.
As an ally since shortly after World War II, Thailand proved invaluable to the United States during the wars fought in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. In those years, the United States flew round-the-clock missions from Utapao air base 90 miles south of Bangkok, and American soldiers came to Thailand to rest and relax.
Although it is a poorly kept secret that Thailand allowed the United States to fly missions from Utapao in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the seemingly surreptitious nature of the country's help in the antiterrorism campaign has bothered some in the Bush administration, who point to the more open declaration of support from countries like Singapore.
Officially, Thailand stayed neutral in both recent US wars. That gave Thaksin breathing room as he contended with strong popular sentiment against the Iraq war. But it did not fit with the Bush administration's ''with us or against us'' policy, leading some analysts in Thailand to question whether the United States would agree to have Bush meet Thaksin during his first trip to Washington as head of state in December 2001, and again now. In the end, both meetings were set up, although today's is unofficial.
''To people who follow Thailand closely, we understand why Thaksin made his choice [on Iraq], and we are looking at what they're doing as opposed to what they're saying,'' a Western diplomat in Bangkok said, citing domestic pressures for Thailand's neutrality. ''They're doing everything [the United States] wants them to do except for publicly making the statement.''
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, US policy toward Southeast Asia has stressed one issue: support for the war on terrorism. Singapore and Malaysia earned high marks from the Americans when they foiled an attempt by Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian group linked to Al Qaeda, to blow up the American, Australian, and Israeli embassies in Singapore last year. Singapore earned extra favor for officially supporting the Iraq war. And because of its unwavering cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda, Malaysia, which vehemently opposed the Iraq war, is viewed favorably by the United States.
The war on terrorism has turned once implacable foes into cautious allies. Vietnam has cooperated, at least in words, with US efforts to hunt terrorists in the region, though it, too, opposed the Iraq war. And Cambodia, with a rapidly growing Muslim minority, recently arrested three men for suspected involvement in Jemaah Islamiyah: two Thais and an Egyptian who were teaching at an Islamic school there.
While Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand are all Buddhist nations, significant Muslim minorities exist in the latter two and in Singapore as well. Malaysia is mainly Muslim, while Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.
As a largely unregulated, free country at the crossroads of Southeast Asia, Thailand has played an unwitting role in international terrorism: Specialists said Jemaah Islamiyah uses Thailand as a transit point where its members can gather fake travel documents.
Intelligence officials said Jemaah Islamiyah members were in Thailand in January 2002 when they originally conceived the Bali, Indonesia, nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people in October.
Thailand is the big power in a region where the United States needs help combating terrorism and opium production. The United States also would like to stem the influence that China is increasingly wielding throughout Asia. The United States stages its annual Cobra Gold joint-military exercise with Thailand and Singapore in Thailand, enhancing US security standing in the region. It also has a large Drug Enforcement Administration operation in Thailand.
''Thailand is a longstanding friend and treaty ally with shared values and perceptions of security, and it shares a vision of the region with free trade and democracy,'' a spokesman for the US Embassy in Bangkok said yesterday.
The Bush administration is hoping to sign a deal with Thaksin in which Thailand would not send American suspects to the new International Criminal Court, which the United States refuses to recognize. In return, Bush will lobby Congress for Thailand to be designated a major non-NATO ally similar to the Philippines, which would ensure Thailand high levels of assistance in defense and security measures.
©2003 Globe Newspaper Company
By Rafael D. Frankel, Globe Correspondent, 6/10/2003
BANGKOK -- When President Bush and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand meet today at the White House, they will probably focus on Thailand's quiet cooperation in the war on terrorism -- the issue that has defined US relations with all Southeast Asian countries since Sept. 11, 2001.
As an ally since shortly after World War II, Thailand proved invaluable to the United States during the wars fought in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. In those years, the United States flew round-the-clock missions from Utapao air base 90 miles south of Bangkok, and American soldiers came to Thailand to rest and relax.
Although it is a poorly kept secret that Thailand allowed the United States to fly missions from Utapao in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the seemingly surreptitious nature of the country's help in the antiterrorism campaign has bothered some in the Bush administration, who point to the more open declaration of support from countries like Singapore.
Officially, Thailand stayed neutral in both recent US wars. That gave Thaksin breathing room as he contended with strong popular sentiment against the Iraq war. But it did not fit with the Bush administration's ''with us or against us'' policy, leading some analysts in Thailand to question whether the United States would agree to have Bush meet Thaksin during his first trip to Washington as head of state in December 2001, and again now. In the end, both meetings were set up, although today's is unofficial.
''To people who follow Thailand closely, we understand why Thaksin made his choice [on Iraq], and we are looking at what they're doing as opposed to what they're saying,'' a Western diplomat in Bangkok said, citing domestic pressures for Thailand's neutrality. ''They're doing everything [the United States] wants them to do except for publicly making the statement.''
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, US policy toward Southeast Asia has stressed one issue: support for the war on terrorism. Singapore and Malaysia earned high marks from the Americans when they foiled an attempt by Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian group linked to Al Qaeda, to blow up the American, Australian, and Israeli embassies in Singapore last year. Singapore earned extra favor for officially supporting the Iraq war. And because of its unwavering cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda, Malaysia, which vehemently opposed the Iraq war, is viewed favorably by the United States.
The war on terrorism has turned once implacable foes into cautious allies. Vietnam has cooperated, at least in words, with US efforts to hunt terrorists in the region, though it, too, opposed the Iraq war. And Cambodia, with a rapidly growing Muslim minority, recently arrested three men for suspected involvement in Jemaah Islamiyah: two Thais and an Egyptian who were teaching at an Islamic school there.
While Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand are all Buddhist nations, significant Muslim minorities exist in the latter two and in Singapore as well. Malaysia is mainly Muslim, while Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.
As a largely unregulated, free country at the crossroads of Southeast Asia, Thailand has played an unwitting role in international terrorism: Specialists said Jemaah Islamiyah uses Thailand as a transit point where its members can gather fake travel documents.
Intelligence officials said Jemaah Islamiyah members were in Thailand in January 2002 when they originally conceived the Bali, Indonesia, nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people in October.
Thailand is the big power in a region where the United States needs help combating terrorism and opium production. The United States also would like to stem the influence that China is increasingly wielding throughout Asia. The United States stages its annual Cobra Gold joint-military exercise with Thailand and Singapore in Thailand, enhancing US security standing in the region. It also has a large Drug Enforcement Administration operation in Thailand.
''Thailand is a longstanding friend and treaty ally with shared values and perceptions of security, and it shares a vision of the region with free trade and democracy,'' a spokesman for the US Embassy in Bangkok said yesterday.
The Bush administration is hoping to sign a deal with Thaksin in which Thailand would not send American suspects to the new International Criminal Court, which the United States refuses to recognize. In return, Bush will lobby Congress for Thailand to be designated a major non-NATO ally similar to the Philippines, which would ensure Thailand high levels of assistance in defense and security measures.
©2003 Globe Newspaper Company
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Suu Kyi was ambushed in Myanmar, reports say
By Rafael D. Frankel
Special to the Tribune
BANGKOK — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy were ambushed by the military Friday night, according to reports from Myanmar that contradict the military government’s account of the clash.
Meanwhile, the fates of 17 of her National League for Democracy colleagues were unknown Tuesday after the military reversed course and told diplomats it could not guarantee they were unharmed, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
Suu Kyi, 57, the leader of the NLD, suffered a serious head injury and a broken hand in Friday night’s violence, in which dozens of people were killed, according to reports by Radio Free Asia. Corroborating reports came from the Washington-based
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a pro-democracy group that
says it heard eyewitness accounts of the violence.
The military did not reveal Suu Kyi’s whereabouts Tuesday. The junta also continued to hold incommunicado the central committee of her party under house arrest.
In briefing diplomats Tuesday, the military junta that has ruled Myanmar since crushing a popular uprising in 1988 still said that only four people were killed in a fight incited by Suu Kyi’s group, according to the U.S. Embassy. The junta assured
diplomats that Suu Kyi and her vice chairman, U Tin Oo, were in good health, an Embassy spokesman said.
However, in a departure from previous statements, the military said they could no longer make such guarantees about the other NLD members who had been accompanying Suu Kyi when the violence occurred, leading to fears among democracy supporters that they were killed or seriously injured.
During Tuesday’s diplomatic briefing, several Western ambassadors pointed out “inconstancies” in the military’s story, and the reaction among the diplomats
was one of “incredulity,” the U.S. spokesman said. The diplomats were particularly
skeptical of the military’s insistence that no police or military officers were present at a 5,000-person protest against Suu Kyi that the military claims to
have taken place and that Suu Kyi was taken into “protective custody” two hours later, thespokesman said.
Since her release from house arrest a year ago, Suu Kyi has been under constant surveillance by military intelligence. Witnesses’ accounts of the violence indicate that soldiers, pro-government militia members and convicts from a local prison attacked the 19 NLD members and hundreds of their supporters Friday.
The soldiers opened fire on Suu Kyi’s car, puncturing its tires, and the militia and convicts beat the Nobel Peace laureate and members of her group with bamboo stakes, the accounts aid. Vice Chairman Tin Oo was beaten and dragged away by three police officers, the witnesses said.
In the northern city of Mandalay, the witnesses managed to contact local members of the NLD, who helped the escapees call the National Coalition Government in Thailand, according to Zin Linn, the group’s eastern regional director, based in Bangkok.
Confirming the reports has proved difficult because phone lines to much of northern Myanmar are down.
On Monday, the military closed all offices of the party across Myanmar and closed all universities, which were supposed to start a new term that
day. On Tuesday, the military insisted the closings of the NLD offices were only temporary, though they offered no schedule for reopening them, an Embassy spokesman said.
World leaders have condemned the crackdown and demanded the release of Suu Kyi and her league members.
"The military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters immediately and permit her party headquarters to reopen," President Bush said Monday.
©2003 The Chicago Tribune
Special to the Tribune
BANGKOK — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy were ambushed by the military Friday night, according to reports from Myanmar that contradict the military government’s account of the clash.
Meanwhile, the fates of 17 of her National League for Democracy colleagues were unknown Tuesday after the military reversed course and told diplomats it could not guarantee they were unharmed, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
Suu Kyi, 57, the leader of the NLD, suffered a serious head injury and a broken hand in Friday night’s violence, in which dozens of people were killed, according to reports by Radio Free Asia. Corroborating reports came from the Washington-based
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a pro-democracy group that
says it heard eyewitness accounts of the violence.
The military did not reveal Suu Kyi’s whereabouts Tuesday. The junta also continued to hold incommunicado the central committee of her party under house arrest.
In briefing diplomats Tuesday, the military junta that has ruled Myanmar since crushing a popular uprising in 1988 still said that only four people were killed in a fight incited by Suu Kyi’s group, according to the U.S. Embassy. The junta assured
diplomats that Suu Kyi and her vice chairman, U Tin Oo, were in good health, an Embassy spokesman said.
However, in a departure from previous statements, the military said they could no longer make such guarantees about the other NLD members who had been accompanying Suu Kyi when the violence occurred, leading to fears among democracy supporters that they were killed or seriously injured.
During Tuesday’s diplomatic briefing, several Western ambassadors pointed out “inconstancies” in the military’s story, and the reaction among the diplomats
was one of “incredulity,” the U.S. spokesman said. The diplomats were particularly
skeptical of the military’s insistence that no police or military officers were present at a 5,000-person protest against Suu Kyi that the military claims to
have taken place and that Suu Kyi was taken into “protective custody” two hours later, thespokesman said.
Since her release from house arrest a year ago, Suu Kyi has been under constant surveillance by military intelligence. Witnesses’ accounts of the violence indicate that soldiers, pro-government militia members and convicts from a local prison attacked the 19 NLD members and hundreds of their supporters Friday.
The soldiers opened fire on Suu Kyi’s car, puncturing its tires, and the militia and convicts beat the Nobel Peace laureate and members of her group with bamboo stakes, the accounts aid. Vice Chairman Tin Oo was beaten and dragged away by three police officers, the witnesses said.
In the northern city of Mandalay, the witnesses managed to contact local members of the NLD, who helped the escapees call the National Coalition Government in Thailand, according to Zin Linn, the group’s eastern regional director, based in Bangkok.
Confirming the reports has proved difficult because phone lines to much of northern Myanmar are down.
On Monday, the military closed all offices of the party across Myanmar and closed all universities, which were supposed to start a new term that
day. On Tuesday, the military insisted the closings of the NLD offices were only temporary, though they offered no schedule for reopening them, an Embassy spokesman said.
World leaders have condemned the crackdown and demanded the release of Suu Kyi and her league members.
"The military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters immediately and permit her party headquarters to reopen," President Bush said Monday.
©2003 The Chicago Tribune