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Where Is She?

Washington Post September 14, 2003

SCARCELY A POLITICIAN or business executive in the world doesn't relish the chance to appear in public with the great Nelson Mandela. But during Mr. Mandela's long years in a South African prison, he had many fewer friends among the world's powerful. This comes to mind because another national leader of comparable fortitude and magnanimity has been captive since May 30, and you would be hard-pressed to find much evidence that her many supposed friends around the world are doing everything possible to win her release. If Aung San Suu Kyi one day is freed to lead her country, Burma, to democracy, there will be no shortage of people seeking to recall how they were on her side all along. But the moment to step forward is now.

Her odious captors of course are primarily responsible. The corrupt military generals who rule Burma have loathed Aung San Suu Kyi for a long time, certainly since her National League for Democracy won four-fifths of arliamentary seats in a 1990 election. The junta, shocked at this reflection of its own unpopularity, nullified the election. It has kept Burma's 50 million people locked in a stultifying dictatorship ever since. Last May the regime sent a band of vigilantes to attack Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters as they traveled on a provincial road, killing and injuring scores. The NLD leader has been confined ever since, allowed one visit with a United Nations representative and two with the International Red Cross. When the U.S. State Department said it believed she has stopped eating in protest, one of the junta's diplomats, ambassador to Britain, Kyaw Win, responded with typical finesse and sensitivity: "How could anybody know that she's on hunger strike when you don't even know where she is?"

The Bush administration has expressed concern and called for her release. But that's not enough. On July 28 Mr. Bush signed into law a ban on imports from Burma that Congress, led by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, had approved by overwhelming margins. He should use that congressional mandate to push other nations to act. Where are Aung San Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel peace laureate Kofi Annan and the U.N. Security Council? What action will the European Union take? And will Burma's neighbors and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations allow their own reputations to be sullied by this criminal regime? The ruling generals ought to know that if anything happens to Aung San Suu Kyi, they will be pariahs throughout the world for as long as they live.

Mr. Bush is confronted with many complex foreign policy challenges:countries where the line between good guys and bad guys is fuzzy, failed states with no one qualified to lead, dictator-ships without civil institutions ready to step into the breach. Burma is a challenge too, but there's nothing complex about the choices: It is a resource-rich nation with a democratic party and a leader already anointed by a vast majority of the people. She must be released and allowed to take the position to which she was elected.

Don't Let Burma Slide
By Morton Abramowitz - washingtonpost.com - Monday, July 21, 2003

The small flickering of possible change for the long-suffering people of Burma is being snuffed out. Unless the world acts quickly, pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi will be finished, politically if not physically.

Seven weeks have passed since the Burmese military imprisoned her and her political associates after the violent assault on her motorcade May 30. Inter- national demands for her release fall on deaf ears. The Burmese regime apparently came to believe that allowing Aung San Suu Kyi access to the people of Burma was a mistake. She was drawing sizable crowds on her trips throughout the country, and they feared for their control.

With the exception of a brief meeting June 10 with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy, Razali Ismail, the Burmese government has allowed no one to see her nor revealed her whereabouts. She has effectively disappeared. Razali announced that she was uninjured and in good spirits. But his expectation that she would be released in one or two weeks has been dashed, along with the promise the Burmese government made him a year earlier to bring about national reconciliation. Instead the military has sent special envoys throughout Asia to justify her detention. Meanwhile, government news agencies defile Suu Kyi's character and Burmese authorities aggressively arrest and interrogate members of her National League for Democracy (NLD).

After her arrest the U.S. Congress enacted trade sanctions, and an executive order is being prepared to freeze assets of the Burmese leadership and ban remittances from the United States. Secretary of State Colin Powell, writing in the Wall Street Journal, rebuked the "thugs who run the Burmese government." The European Union strengthened existing sanctions, broadened its arms embargo on Burma and postponed a high-level visit. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) overlooked its principle of nonintervention and issued a cautious statement calling for the "early lifting of restrictions placed on Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD members." And an embarrassed Japan, one of Burma's largest donors, suspended new aid.

But Burma is hardly a world priority. Countries, including the United States and its European friends, have failed to lean on those nations that help the military to survive -- China, Thailand and India. The members of ASEAN have taken no practical steps to further their request for her release. And in Thailand, except for statements urging the Burmese government to return the situation to "normalcy," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra continues his support for the Burmese military, harassing Burmese exiles and dissidents in Thailand while promoting
investment in Burma. China, Burma's largest military supplier, has the greatest influence but, not surprisingly, remains silent.

Whatever the world's response, it is not working. Given the mendacity and ruthlessness of the Burmese regime Suu Kyi's survival cannot be taken for granted. If nothing happens soon, the world will drift into accepting her disappearance from the scene. And that is what Burma's leaders expect. Burma's senior general, Than Shwe, is very tough, detests Suu Kyi and is not easily susceptible to outside pressure, while his government focuses on solidifying relations with neighboring nations. The practical options for dealing with his regime are not promising. Force is out of the question, and no country is willing to bring serious pressure on China. That leaves little else but to further mobilize the world to make clear that what happens to Suu Kyi is of real importance and ensure that at least some of its military leaders understand the consequences for Burma of her continued imprisonment:

• Concerned nations should sustain tougher rhetoric condemning the Burmese government, and strongly convey the difficulty of doing business with the government without her release, with steps that might include downgrading their relations with Burma. The United States should lead the charge.

• In particular, nations should focus on Beijing. To hold China's feet to the fire, a U.N. Security Council resolution proposing a sanctions regime on Burma needs to be introduced. While China would almost certainly veto it, Beijing does not like to use its veto, and the prospect of exercising it might cause China, at least quietly, to urge the Burmese government to free Suu Kyi.

• In any event, the United Nations must not remain mostly mute on Burma. The secretary general needs to go beyond his cautious public remarks. He should start by having Razali meet with the Security Council to report on the Burma situation. That would, one hopes, be followed by the resolution recommended above.

• Outside China, ASEAN probably has the most influence on Burma. ASEAN countries should convey the difficulties that Burma's ostracism will have for relations with Burma, making it also clear that holding ASEAN meetings in Burma will be impossible while Suu Kyi is detained. The president should appoint a special envoy to pursue such an effort with ASEAN and also urge the two leaders closest to Burma, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, to visit Burma and seek Suu Kyi's release.

One cannot be sanguine about whether all of this will be done or whether it will do the trick. But a stronger international effort on Suu Kyi's behalf remains the only vehicle for securing her release. Her freedom keeps alive the possibility of political change in Burma, but there is a long way to go to achieve it. That, and her comrades, must not be forgotten in the euphoria should she actually be released.

The writer, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, was American ambassador to Thailand from 1978 to 1981.

US SENATE LEADERS DEMAND UN SECURITY COUNCIL ‘TAKE UP’ BURMA- July 16, 2003

Following yesterday’s U.S. House of Representatives vote overwhelmingly in favor of sanctioning Burma, prominent Senate leaders urged the United Nations Security Council to step up pressure on the regime. During Senate debate today, Senators John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Patrick Leahy, and Sam Brownback exhorted President Bush to confront Burma’s military junta
through the UNSC. “[It is] past time for the U.S. and its allies to take up this issue,” said Senator McCain.

The senators excoriated the “failed policy of engagement” with Burma, singling out Thailand, Japan, and China for their lenience towards the junta, and praising democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her bravery in the face of the regime’s brutality. The Nobel laureate has been held incommunicado by the junta since a brutal crackdown on her party on May 30th that may have left as many as 70 of her supporters dead.

The 418-2 House vote yesterday occurred a month after the Senate voted 97-1 on a similar bill. Once the Senate and House agree on a common version, President Bush is expected to quickly sign the bill, which bans imports from Burma, as well as freezing junta assets in the U.S., and expands an already-existing visa ban.

In the Senate chamber today, the four leaders’ voices were unified in support of action through the UN Security Council, despite the suggestion that China, a close ally to the regime, might object to such a measure. “I don’t care if China vetoes [a resolution. This issue] needs to be
discussed by the Security Council…, and debated by the most important countries in the world,” declared Senator McConnell.

Senator McCain also challenged Burma’s regional partners—especially ASEAN—to stop supporting the military regime, and to push for democratic transition. While welcoming Japan’s announcement of suspension of future aid to the junta, McCain offered a caveat: “Tokyo’s existing aid sends mixed signals,” said Senator McCain, referring to Japan’s decision to leave intact aid currently invested in Burma.

Senators McCain, Brownback, and McConnell also censured Thailand, an ally of the U.S., for propping up the regime. Senator Brownback condemned Thailand’s harsh policies towards Burmese in exile in Thailand.

Regional group ASEAN also came under fire for its lax approach towards the junta. “Southeast Asia will not be secure as long as the generals rule in Rangoon,” said Senator McCain. The senator warned that ASEAN’s credibility will be further undermined “as long as Burma festers,”
particularly when Burma assumes the presidency of the regional group in 2006. Rangoon will host that year’s ministerial summit as well as the ASEAN Regional Forum, which is traditionally attended by the U.S. Secretary of State.

U.N. dithers as Nobel laureate struggles to live
By RENA PEDERSON - Dallas Morning News June 29 2003

It is no wonder the Bush administration looks on the United Nations with some weariness. It too often is a Dithering Club.

Current case in point: Burma. In one of the most highhanded abductions in recent times, the military dictators there violently dragged Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi into custody nearly a month ago. It took nearly four days for the UN to issue a statement protesting the freedom leader's incarceration. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week that he was "gravely concerned" by reports that the Nobel laureate was being held in Insein Prison, one of the most notorious prisons in the world.

'Grave concern'

Words are nice. "Grave concern" is good. But how about some principled action? What will it take for the U.N. Security Council to demonstrate its disapproval? The Council on Foreign Relations last week called for the Security Council to convene an emergency session to condemn the Burmese actions. But the secretary general is on a 30-day trip out of the country, jetting from London to Switzerland to Jordan to Africa, attending meetings. Kofi Annan may not realize it yet, but his credibility and his character will be stained forever if one of the most admired voices of freedom is lost on his watch.

The exquisitely polite career diplomat could be seen in a familiar pose when Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed his concern about Burma at the United Nations. Mr. Annan stood by, hands gracefully held in front of his chest with the fingertips touching, as if he were holding an invisible ball in a triangle of fingers. He looked like an elegantly tailored priest deep in thought. Indeed, he is a former theology student and, by most accounts, a lovely fellow.

Yet as a consummate bureaucratic insider, he glides rather than leads. As a 17,000-word article in The New Yorker reminded this spring, it was this same opaque diplomat who was head of the U.N. peacekeeping operations that left 800,000 to be slaughtered in Rwanda in 100 days. It was this same opaque diplomat who oversaw the catastrophic U.N. mission in Bosnia, where thousands were massacred in U.N. "safe" areas like Srebenica.

Traveling world

Nevertheless, Mr. Annan glided to the top of the United Nations and received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 and now spends more than a third of the year traveling around the world to meet with member states. Yes, the world has many problems that cry for attention, but there is only one Nobel laureate who has been kidnapped and locked in a prison.

Mr. Annan received his prize for persuading the United States to pay its U.N. dues, restructuring the U.N. bureaucracy and "revitalizing" the organization. But Aung San Suu Kyi received hers for risking her life every day for years in the face of armed soldiers with cocked guns. Kofi Annan's work was done in air-conditioned buildings and jet planes. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 13 years in prison and under house arrest.

Now, Aung San Suu Kyi is back in prison, wearing the same clothes since she was arrested May 31. It is appropriate that Insein Prison, where she is believed to be held, is pronounced in-sane. It is a nightmarish chamber of horrors. Dog kennels there have been converted into "dog cells" for punishing prisoners. Most of those admitted to the hospital die there, without sheets, blankets or medicine. Food consists of a serving of rice twice a day with a little pea water and a tea- spoon of fish paste. Once a week, a cube of meat about an inch in size may be included.

Tortured

Human rights groups have documented that prisoners are forced to beat other prisoners to survive. Many have been shackled, beaten and tortured. In one awful case in 1993, a prisoner named Bo Ou was beheaded and his head put in the vegetable soup. Heroin abuse is rampant, and so is AIDS. Dozens of democracy advocates who have been imprisoned have died of dysentery because of the unhygienic conditions. Sixteen members of Parliament are in prison.

But the star prisoner is Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being held under a security law whereby she may be held up to five years without a charge. The International Red Cross was given permission last week by the Burmese junta to see those who were imprisoned after the bloody "Black Friday" attack on the Nobel laureate's motorcade. But the generals won't allow the Red Cross to see "the Lady."

To its credit, the U.S. Senate recently moved quickly to call for tougher sanctions on Burma, and a similar bill is moving through the House of Representatives. That's more movement than we've seen from the United Nations.

Rena Pederson (rpederson@dallasnews.com) is editor at large of The Dallas Morning News.

Two witnesses to Myanmar violence seek UN protection in Bangkok
BANGKOK, July 4 (AFP)

Screaming "die! "die!" a drunken mob of about 3000 people surrounded Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy, stripping the clothes off her supporters and beating them mercilessly with bats, rods and spears, dissidents testified Friday.

Two Myanmar pro-democracy activists who witnessed the May 30 riots that triggered opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention are seeking UN protection after fleeing to Thailand, officials said Friday.

The two men, both members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), had planned to publicly reveal their account of the violence but the press conferences were cancelled due to fears they would be arrested.

After testifying before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee they instead went directly to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Bangkok to apply for refugee status, said committee adviser Sunai Phasuk.

"Naturally they entered into Thailand without documents so they could automatically be charged with illegal entry into Thailand. Under Thai law they could be deported back into Burma immediately," he told AFP.

"They are witnesses to Black Friday so if they were handed over to Burma their lives would be in extreme danger. So there is more than enough grounds for them to be protected by the UNHCR."

The UNHCR, which has a policy of confidentiality, was not able to comment on the application by the pair.

In the first direct account of the violence to emerge since May 30, the two men said in sworn affidavits that they witnessed a brutal attack on Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy as she carried out a political tour of northern Myanmar.

They said the attackers used rods to smash their way into Aung San Suu Kyi's car and that she only escaped a beating because she did not emerge from the vehicle, which was later able to speed off.

NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo who was travelling in another vehicle was wounded on the head, and women in a third vehicle were dragged out, stripped and bashed, said NLD youth wing member Wunna Maung.

"I saw the attackers jump onto them and wrapped the hair around their heads and pounded the heads against the stone surface of the road, with all their force," he said. "From my mind, I still cannot get rid of the sight of people,covered in blood, being beaten mercilessly and inhumanly."

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Washington, D.C. 20510-6225

HEARING ON “A REVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENTS OF DEMOCRACY IN BURMA ”
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND THE PACIFIC AFFAIRS
SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON, D.C - JUNE 18, 2003

TESTIMONY BY U AUNG DIN
DIRECTOR, FREE BURMA COALITION
1101 Pennsylvania Ave, SE # 204
Washington, D.C 20003

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Chairman,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of 50 million Burmese who are locked in a battle with an illegitimate military regime to bring peace, democracy and human rights to our country. My name is Aung Din, and as you mentioned I serve as the director of policy for the Free Burma Coalition, an organization based in the United States with national
and international chapters.

I'd like to thank you, Senators McConnell and Feinstein, and the members of the United States Senate for the overwhelming bipartisan vote to approve the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act last week. By supporting this legislation, you sent a clear message to the people of Burma that you support our struggle for freedom. I urge the House to act on this
legislation soon.

Since you have already heard much about the events surrounding May 30th, 2003, I want to tell you about myself and discuss the many different ways that the people of Burma are working to get rid of our country's dictatorship. I know that Aung San Suu Kyi is the most recognized person from Burma, but it is important for the Committee to know that there are
thousands of others in Burma who are committed to nonviolence and working for the removal of the regime and the institution of a democratic Burma.

In 1988, I was a student at the University of Rangoon Institute of Technology when I and many of my fellow students helped to organize a nationwide demonstration that almost overthrew the military government. We marched proudly in front of the American Embassy and waved our banners, because we knew that Americans believe in freedom and democracy. We avoided the Soviet embassy for the same reason.

Tragically, as millions of people marched on the streets, the military regime opened fire on us. Up to 10,000 people were murdered in a matter of weeks, including students, women and infant children. Those who survived were jailed and suffered daily torture sessions.
Mr. Chairman, this was one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Unfortunately, because the military refused to let any international news media inside the country, no one knew what happened to us. After seeing my colleagues gunned down on the streets, I was very scared, but I knew I couldn't give up. I continued to organize demonstrations and protests, and eventually, I was captured by the regime.

When they arrested me, they handcuffed me, threw a hood over my head, and pulled me off the bus I was riding. I was taken to a military interrogation center, where I was held with no food, no drink, no toilet, and no sleep for one week. My hood was never removed. Successive shifts of interrogation officers beat, kicked, and hit me. When I asked for water, they laughed at me. When I asked to use the bathroom, they beat me even more. Many times I almost passed out, but they poured cold water onto my head to wake me up so my beatings could continue.

A month later, I was put in solitary confinement, where I stayed for over a year. In Burma, solitary confinement means no human contact. I was sent to military court and given a sentence of four years in prison. My trial took only fifteen minutes, and I had no lawyer. I spent the next four years of my life behind bars.

If there is a hell on earth, it must be Burma’s Insein prison where I was jailed. For political prisoners such as myself each day centered on interrogations, beatings, and mental torture. When the guards noticed I had written a calendar on my wall, I was thrown in pitch-black solitary confinement. When I forgot to stand at attention, I was forced to crawl on sharp, pointed stones for 100 yards while the prison guards beat me with sticks and belts. Many of my fellow prisoners were tortured even more. They were tortured for dropping a cup of water. They were tortured for teaching English--they were tortured for anything. Often, when I
tried to sleep, I could hear the screams of those being tortured. Those screams haunt me to this day. They are the voices of my friends, many of who were killed by the violence inflicted upon their bodies. It is for them that I have dedicated my life to freeing my country from the evil darkness that is the ruling military junta.

Our families did not escape either. My brother was also arrested for his participation in the freedom struggle. Many parents and families were forced out of their jobs by the regime. The regime through the military intelligence (MI) apparatus, conducts a scorched earth campaign against anyone associated with the democracy movement.

OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS

I want to tell you about the other brave people of Burma. There are over 1,600 men and women political prisoners in Burma and many have been behind bars for over a decade. We talk so many times about numbers that it can be easy to forget their names and their stories.

My friend Min Ko Naing has been in prison since 1989. For the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi is like George Washington. Min Ko Naing is like Sam Adams—he is a true hero. Just as much as Aung San Suu Kyi, he was the main leader of our revolution. He spoke at rallies across the country and called on the people to believe in freedom. I think that he understood
freedom and democracy at its roots, far before many of the rest of us.

We were both arrested at the same time. He was also severely tortured. Unlike me, however, he has been held in solitary confinement for 14 years. It might be that the military regime will never release him.

In 1994, U.S. Congressman Bill Richardson met Min Ko Naing in prison. He told the Congressman to continue the struggle for freedom and democracy. The military punished Min Ko Naing by transferring him 500 miles away from his family. Now, his family can only visit him once a year. He has never been permitted to leave his 8 x 10 foot cell for more than 15 minutes per day.

The regime has offered to release Min Ko Naing if he will sign a document forswearing any political activity and condemning the democracy movement. He has refused. In the face of such brutal tyranny, he continues to fight back against the regime. His courage should inspire us.

I would now to like to discuss the many different ways people are resisting the military regime in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi is one person in a democracy movement that is broad and deep. There are hundreds of activists that are jailed and killed each year who never receive any
attention. Most of my people struggle, suffer, and die without a word being raised by the international community.

INFORMATION

One way that we are working to bring change to Burma is through information. The National Endowment for Democracy gives money to organizations along the Thailand-Burma border that help to get information inside the country, including this newspaper, the New Era Journal. Every month, we distribute thousands of copies inside Burma through a courier network. Keep in mind that possession of this newspaper is an automatic seven-year jail
sentence.

We are also very grateful for services from the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. Even though many people have been sentenced to long prison terms for listening to the radio, the people of Burma listen to these radio programs almost every night in order to find out what's going on in the world and in our own country.

PROTESTS AND POLITICAL DEFIANCE

My people also continue to organize protests around the country. Last August, two of my colleagues were arrested for organizing a protest in downtown Rangoon. In September 30 more people were arrested for protesting. In November, a man was arrested for making an NLD symbol, and in January, two Buddhist nuns were arrested for organizing a
demonstration. In February, one dozen people were arrested for planning a demonstration, and in May another man was arrested.

I know that it doesn't make it in the news very often, but not a month goes by that the people of Burma aren't trying to organize a nationwide uprising. There are also many actions taking place in a coordinated manner that are directed at fostering support for the democracy movement within Burma’s armed forces. The Burma military is a force that is kept
together through fear and terror. In the 1990 elections, voting precincts in major military areas delivered overwhelming majorities for the NLD. It is a military that has no ideological commitment to the ruling regime. The outreach effort is aimed at convincing military leaders that the future of the country lies with the democracy movement, and not with the regime.

Other actions by underground groups inside the country allow freedom activists to travel and conduct organization work with key groups such as monks and rice farmers. Aung San Suu Kyi’s speeches are copied and distributed by the thousands on audiotape in Burma. I would be happy to talk about these efforts with you in a more private setting. I also want to point out that the Open Society Institute, Norweigen-Burma Committee, and several other organizations—some government sponsored—are assisting our movement.

ATTENDING PRO-DEMOCRACY SPEECHES

The Burmese people are also defying the military regime by attending speeches of Aung San Suu Kyi. These are really more than just speeches--they are democracy rallies.

In December, 20,000 people came to see her speak in Arakan state. In March, 30,000 people came to watch her speak in Chin State. And on this latest trip, tens of thousands of Burmese people risked their lives and their livelihoods to participate. Even when the regime has threatened them with weapons and guns, they refused to turn back.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I would like to close my testimony by making a few recommendations for future policy on Burma. First and foremost, we must make it clear that, as Senator McConnell has said, we need REGIME CHANGE in Burma. The United Nations has attempted to foster a dialogue that can lead to a political transition, and events have shown this to be a failure. Sanctions will
serve to cut the regime’s access to hard currency that it uses to finance its instruments of repression. We must now work on empowering activists inside the country to allow them to bring maximum internal pressure against the regime. Either way, they must be removed. The United States is in a unique position to help bring about change in the world because
Americans believe in freedom and democracy. In order to accomplish regime change, we must do the following things:

Increase resources to the struggle inside We need increased resources to fund the struggle inside Burma. Sanctions will help us very much, but they should be seen as a first step. The
people of Burma need to be given the tools to effect change, including money, communications equipment, food and humanitarian support to refugees internally displaced and in Thailand and India;

Pressure other countries to stop supporting Burma's regime with military sales and business investment The United States needs to pressure ASEAN, Japan, and India to end their
political support for the military regime. China will enjoy economic benefits from a free-market, politically stable Burma. Clearly, a democratic Burma will be better for the entire region.

Push the United Nations Security Council to act on Burma The United Nations Security Council must act now on Burma. So far, the United Nations has been worthless in helping my country. The Burmese regime has played the United Nations like a dancing marionette. A
Security Council resolution should seek to duplicate the actions contained in the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act.

If the Security Council refuses to act, the U.S. must help the Burmese people overthrow the illegitimate junta through the use of a nonviolent, mass mobilization campaign. I want to stress that we are not asking for military intervention, but we are asking for political and moral support directed to activists inside the country.

The regime has been given 2 and 1/2 years to bring change to Burma. Now, it is time to change the regime. We must bring unremitting pressure against these thugs. The same economic and political conditions that led to the 1988 uprising are still present in Burma. The regime is hated by the people and, if enough political space can open, I can envision another
people power mobilization that can sweep this regime from Rangoon and condemn it to the ash heap of history.

We know that freedom isn't free. Its cost is measured in the bodies of dead democracy activists, broken families and years stolen from the lives of political prisoners. We are willing to pay the price and we do so every day. We want people around the world to know that we are freedom fighters, not victims.

Mr. Chairman, this regime will not last. I look forward to the day, when I am able to rejoin my family and friends in Burma, about telling them that during our darkest hour, when our fight was far from certain, when despair had almost overcome hope, that it was the people of the U.S. and their representatives sitting in this Congress, that lifted the torch of democracy and lit our path to freedom.

Thank You.

Aung Din