Myanmar faces criticism over attack on Suu Kyi<\/p>\n
YANGON (Agencies): Myanmar's military authorities faced
\nrenewed international condemnation yesterday following weekend
\nattacks on the motorcade of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
Japan called on the Myanmar's government to explain the
\n\"regrettable\" violence in which Suu Kyi's motorcade was pelted
\nwith rocks on three occasions Saturday by a mob she accused of
\nbeing government agents.<\/p>\n
\"We call on the Burmese (Myanmar's) government to exercise
\nself-restraint,\" said Seiroku Kajiyama, Chief Cabinet Secretary
\nand chief spokesman.<\/p>\n
The Japanese appeal followed a sharp statement from the United
\nStates expressing outrage for the attacks in which the
\nwindscreens of two vehicles were smashed and a senior opposition
\nofficial was slightly injured.<\/p>\n
The strongly worded statement from the U.S. embassy here
\ncalled on the Myanmar's authorities to \"punish those responsible
\nfor this attack (and) to take every possible means to ensure the
\nsafety of Aung San Suu Kyi.\"<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi said the four cars had been attacked by members of the
\nUnited Solidarity Development Association (USDA) -- a state-
\nsponsored mass movement -- as she left her compound to meet
\nsupporters.<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi blamed the military government for orchestrating the
\nattack.<\/p>\n
\"The whole thing was carefully orchestrated by the
\nauthorities. What kind of government is it that allows such
\nhooliganism?\" Suu Kyi said after the attacks.<\/p>\n
Tin Oo, a vice-chairman in Suu Kyi's National League for
\nDemocracy (NLD), suffered a cut to the face when a car window
\nshattered.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said USDA members carrying sticks, stones and
\ncatapults blocked access to Suu Kyi's house, arriving and
\ndeparting on buses and pickup trucks in orderly fashion.<\/p>\n
A senior Myanmar's government official said yesterday attacks
\non Suu Kyi were acts of sabotage from which the government had
\nnothing to gain.<\/p>\n
\"We have launched an inquiry into the incident. We don't have
\nan answer yet,\" the government official told Reuters in an
\ninterview. \"There are lots of accusations out there.\"<\/p>\n
\"The question is, who gains because of this incident? If it
\nwere set up by the government, why would we pick such an
\ninappropriate time when everything was running so smoothly?\" he
\nsaid. \"Why would (the government) do it if everybody knows it
\nwould have a negative impact?\"<\/p>\n
He said the attack came just as the secretary-general of the
\nAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was leaving after
\na week-long visit to assess Myanmar's readiness to join the
\nseven-nation regional group.<\/p>\n
It was also on the eve of a visit by U.S. Senator John McCain,
\nwho met on Sunday with senior officials in the ruling State Law
\nand Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and Suu Kyi and her NLD
\nparty.<\/p>\n
\"Everything was going so smoothly and then this thing
\nhappened,\" the official said.<\/p>\n
Fueling the growing international storm, Suu Kyi has issued a
\nvideotaped appeal to the European Union calling for economic
\nsanctions against Myanmar. The tape is to be screened Monday
\nbefore the European parliament,<\/p>\n
\"Aung San Suu Kyi voices her concerns for the safety of
\ndemocracy campaigners. She warns that the Myanmarese people are
\nreaching the end of their tolerance,\" said European deputy Glenys
\nKinnock, who recorded the tape during a meeting with Suu Kyi
\nduring a visit to Myanmar last week.<\/p>\n
\"She wants the international community to act now because she
\nis afraid that things could become so bad that it would be too
\nlate to do anything,\" she said in Brussels.<\/p>",
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