Foreign Conflicts - Adjournment Matters
Dr. Henry: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and praise the initiative by the Department of Foreign Affairs, who, with Ireland Aid, Trócaire and Burma Action Ireland, organised a 12-day visit to Ireland for ten exiled leaders of ethnic nationalities from Burma. The courses and workshops they attended, both North and South of the Border, and which the Department was involved in organising, will be of great use to them in the future. Having met many of them, I can advise the Minister of State that they are particularly grateful for the moral support they received from people here.
The House is aware that Burma has been run by a military junta since 1962. The human rights of the people have been abused and slave labour is used to run much of the country. In 1990, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won over 80% of the vote in free elections. She is the daughter of the great general Aung San, who brought freedom to Burma from the British. However, the election result meant little to the military rulers and neither she nor her colleagues were allowed to take up the reins of government.
Aung San Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest for over 12 years until recently, when she was allowed visit some parts of the country. During one such trip to north Burma, on 30 May, she was attacked. Eye witness accounts and news agency reports say that when her motorcade approached the town of Tibayan, a mob of soldiers, police and others, including convicts dressed as monks, attacked the cars. Some members of the National League for Democracy were killed, beaten to death with clubs and stabbed with bamboo stakes. More recent reports say that piles of bloodstained clothes can still be found in the area. There can be no question but that a very serious event took place there.
After this dreadful episode, the generals arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and other National League of Democracy members and their leaders and closed down their offices across the country. Since that time, Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in prison. The United National special envoy, Mr. Rosali Ishmael recently met the leader, but in his report he could not confirm where she was being held, although he said she was well. The military say she is in protective custody, but violence continues against her supporters.
Aung San Suu Kyi is a freeman of the city of Dublin, an honour not lightly given. Her son received it on her behalf. Although she was awarded the Nobel peace prize, she could not leave Burma to collect it in person and nor could she leave to attend on the death of her husband in England two years ago because she knows that if she leaves Burma, she will not be readmitted.
Given her years of captivity and the treatment she has recently received, one cannot but fear for Aung San Suu Kyi's health and perhaps even for her life. She is greatly admired internationally and especially in this country. On behalf of all those who support her so much, I ask the Minister of State to make immediate representations to the leaders of the military junta, to demand her release and to make a public statement to this effect.
Dr. Henry: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am quite sure he is right to say it is best that nearby Asian countries bring pressure to bear but it is truly dreadful to think that when EU Ministers travel to Bali, Suu Kyi might still be imprisoned in Burma.
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