GROWING THREAT FROM BURMA

Few governments warrant isolation more than Burma's military junta,
one of the most brutal regimes in the world. But the cruelty of Burma
is increasingly a regional problem that threatens to destabilize its
neighbors with refugees, narcotics and AIDS. Unfortunately, Burma has
faded from attention at a time when the need for concerted action has
never been greater.

The latest disturbing news is that Burma's booming heroin trade is
contributing to the spread of AIDS in nearby countries, notably India,
China and Vietnam. Burma is the world's second-largest source of opium
and heroin, after Afghanistan. It also has its own epidemics of drug
use and AIDS.

The opposition leader and 1991 Nobel peace laureate, Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, an advocate of nonviolent resistance, remains under strict
government control in the capital, Rangoon. The government continues
with a campaign of harassment and imprisonment of her party, the
National League for Democracy, which won 80 percent of the
parliamentary seats in a 1990 election that the junta then annulled.

In recent Years South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand have
replaced authoritarian regimes with fledgling democracies. Now
Indonesia has done the same. The changes present a fresh opening for
action on Burma, but the world has been slow to seize it. The United
Nations secretarygeneral, Kofi Annan, has yet to appoint a new special
envoy for Burma to coordinate international efforts to bring pressure
on the junta.

The White House took the lead in isolating Burma, imposing sanctions
on new investment there in 1997. But the problem has not been high on
Washington's agenda for many months. The Association of South East
Asian Nations, which includes Burma, will meet in July, and the Group
of Eight leading industrial nations will gather in Japan the same
month. Tokyo continues to do business with Burma's leaders.

Washington should use the occasion of this summer's meetings to
persuade its democratic friends in the region to shun Burma and make
clear that normal trade and diplomatic relations cannot be sustained
as long as the government abuses its people.

- - THE NEW YORK TIMES.