Myanmar wants to quit ILO, labour body says Friday October 28, 6:51 PM BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta wants to quit the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which has been at loggerheads with Yangon's generals for years over reports of forced labour, the ILO said on Friday. There has been no word from the former Burma's military government, although such a move has been expected ever since two junta-backed organisations called for the expulsion of the Geneva-based ILO from the country earlier this year. The Yangon representative for the ILO, a tripartite body of 178 member governments as well as employer and worker groups, also said he had received 21 written death threats at his home address during August and September. The ILO said the letters, which were supposedly written from inhabitants of various towns around the country, called for its representative, Richard Horsey, to leave Yangon or be killed. "If you interfere our internal affairs [sic], your head will be cut off and our people will crush you and poison you. Be careful, danger is everywhere for you," one of the letters said. Allegations of forced labour in Myanmar, which has been under military rule since a 1962 coup, were unfounded fabrications of the CIA and "U.S. and Western big country [sic]", it added. The ILO said the junta had revealed its intention to leave the organisation at meetings earlier this month, although it added that no official notification had been handed over. Under the ILO's constitution, any country wishing to withdraw had to serve out a two-year "cooling off" period. "It is regrettable if any country wants to quit the ILO, but there is a two year notice period and if that decision is taken, I hope they would make use of that period to resolve the issues," Horsey told Reuters in Bangkok. Only three countries have quit the ILO in recent decades: South Africa under apartheid, the United States from 1977-1980 and Vietnam from 1985 to 1992. An official at the Myanmar Ministry of Labour said he had been ordered not to answer any questions from reporters. (additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Yangon) ~