Myanmar faces criticism over attack on Suu Kyi

Myanmar faces criticism over attack on Suu Kyi

YANGON (Agencies): Myanmar's military authorities faced
renewed international condemnation yesterday following weekend
attacks on the motorcade of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Japan called on the Myanmar's government to explain the
"regrettable" violence in which Suu Kyi's motorcade was pelted
with rocks on three occasions Saturday by a mob she accused of
being government agents.

"We call on the Burmese (Myanmar's) government to exercise
self-restraint," said Seiroku Kajiyama, Chief Cabinet Secretary
and chief spokesman.

The Japanese appeal followed a sharp statement from the United
States expressing outrage for the attacks in which the
windscreens of two vehicles were smashed and a senior opposition
official was slightly injured.

The strongly worded statement from the U.S. embassy here
called on the Myanmar's authorities to "punish those responsible
for this attack (and) to take every possible means to ensure the
safety of Aung San Suu Kyi."

Suu Kyi said the four cars had been attacked by members of the
United Solidarity Development Association (USDA) -- a state-
sponsored mass movement -- as she left her compound to meet
supporters.

Suu Kyi blamed the military government for orchestrating the
attack.

"The whole thing was carefully orchestrated by the
authorities. What kind of government is it that allows such
hooliganism?" Suu Kyi said after the attacks.

Tin Oo, a vice-chairman in Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD), suffered a cut to the face when a car window
shattered.

Witnesses said USDA members carrying sticks, stones and
catapults blocked access to Suu Kyi's house, arriving and
departing on buses and pickup trucks in orderly fashion.

A senior Myanmar's government official said yesterday attacks
on Suu Kyi were acts of sabotage from which the government had
nothing to gain.

"We have launched an inquiry into the incident. We don't have
an answer yet," the government official told Reuters in an
interview. "There are lots of accusations out there."

"The question is, who gains because of this incident? If it
were set up by the government, why would we pick such an
inappropriate time when everything was running so smoothly?" he
said. "Why would (the government) do it if everybody knows it
would have a negative impact?"

He said the attack came just as the secretary-general of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was leaving after
a week-long visit to assess Myanmar's readiness to join the
seven-nation regional group.

It was also on the eve of a visit by U.S. Senator John McCain,
who met on Sunday with senior officials in the ruling State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and Suu Kyi and her NLD
party.

"Everything was going so smoothly and then this thing
happened," the official said.

Fueling the growing international storm, Suu Kyi has issued a
videotaped appeal to the European Union calling for economic
sanctions against Myanmar. The tape is to be screened Monday
before the European parliament,

"Aung San Suu Kyi voices her concerns for the safety of
democracy campaigners. She warns that the Myanmarese people are
reaching the end of their tolerance," said European deputy Glenys
Kinnock, who recorded the tape during a meeting with Suu Kyi
during a visit to Myanmar last week.

"She wants the international community to act now because she
is afraid that things could become so bad that it would be too
late to do anything," she said in Brussels.