Military

DATE=07/02/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-304959

TITLE=BURMA / JAPAn (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=GARY THOMAS

DATELINE=BANGKOK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A senior Burmese official is preparing to head to Tokyo to

discuss the new freeze in Japanese aid to Burma. The aid was halted to

protest the detention of Burma's foremost democracy activist, Aung San

Suu Kyi. As V-O-A correspondent Gary Thomas reports from our Southeast

Asia Bureau in Bangkok, there are reports that the conditions of her

detention may have improved.

TEXT: Japanese officials say Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung

Win will shortly visit Japan to discuss the growing rift between Rangoon

and Tokyo over the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Japan - one of the only major countries to provide aid to Rangoon - has

slapped a ban on any new assistance to Burma to demonstrate its

displeasure over the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi.

No final date has been set, but some Japanese media reports suggest Khin

Maung Win - who is also a senior aide to Burma's top general Than Shwe -

may arrive as early as Friday.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been in custody since May 30th, when she and her

supporters were attacked by a pro-government crowd in northern Burma.

At least four people - and perhaps many more - were killed and scores

injured in the melee. Although she has been periodically placed under

house arrest over the years, Western diplomats say this time she was

taken Rangoon's infamous Insein jail.

Burmese government officials will only say Aung San Suu Kyi is being

held in what they label "protective custody." They have said she will

be released, but have given no indication when.

Her detention has sparked an international uproar.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff told V-O-A that Burmese Foreign

Minister Win Aung got an earful of criticism from him and other

ministers during a recent meeting in Phnom Penh.

/// GOFF ACT ///

I conveyed those views personally and strongly to the Burmese foreign

minister Win Aung, along with our expectation that Aung San Suu Kyi

should be released immediately. and that the world wanted to see

evidence that Burma was moving back towards reconciliation and democracy

if it expected in any way cooperation from the international community.

/// END ACT ///

Even the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - which is usually

reticent about criticizing fellow members - has called on Burma's ruling

military government to release her.

/// OPT /// The only person allowed to visit her - U-N Special Envoy

Razali Ismail - met her on June 10th. He did not reveal where he met

her, but, in unusually non-diplomatic language, described the place

where she was being held at that time as "absolutely deplorable."

/// END OPT ///

The barrage of criticism may have had some effect. New reports say that

that Aung San Suu Kyi was recently transferred out of Insein jail.

Although not independently confirmed, separate reports quote unnamed

sources in Rangoon as saying she was moved to a new, undisclosed

location, probably on Saturday. The government has many guesthouses and

military camps in and around the capital where it can detain its

opponents. (SIGNED)

NEB/GPT/MH