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CNN News on Burma (5 Dec 1996).





		     Burma's Suu Kyi allowed to leave her house
		     ******************************************

                     December 5, 1996

                     RANGOON, Burma (CNN) -- Burma's pro-democracy
                     opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from 
		     at least
                     two days confinement at her Rangoon home on 
		     Thursday. Later,
                     she attended a wedding and met with leaders of her 
		     National
                     League for Democracy party to commemorate the 
		     anniversary of a
                     1920 student rebellion. 

                     Since student-led anti-government demonstrations 
		     earlier this
                     week, authorities had blocked the road to the Nobel 
		     Peace Prize
                     winner's house, where the National Day celebration 
	   	     was scheduled
                     to be held. 

                     Hope for democracy
		     ******************

                     Early Thursday they also closed the road to the 
		     NLD's Rangoon
                     headquarters in an apparent effort to block a 
		     meeting from being
                     held there. 

                     Instead, Suu Kyi met with 250 other party members at 
		     the home
                     of Tin Oo, a senior party leader. She and other 
		     party officials gave
                     speeches and the group sang songs in praise of those 
		     who fought
                     for Burmese independence. 

                     Suu Kyi thanked cheering supporters for attending 
	   	     despite "threats
                     and intimidation." 

                     "I firmly believe that we will be able to set up a 
		     democratic
                     government one day," she said. 

                     She told reporters she had been illegally held at 
		     home. "But today I
                     can come back (out)," she said. Party leaders had 
		     earlier called her
                     confinement "virtual house arrest." 

                     Increasing crackdowns
		     *********************

                     Before the National Day celebration -- which marked the
                     anniversary of a student rebellion against British 
		     rule in 1920 --
                     Suu Kyi attended a friend's wedding at a Chinese 
		     restaurant for
                     about 30 minutes, people at the wedding said. 

                     The government increasingly has
                     cracked down on Suu Kyi and her
                     party in recent months. Roadblocks
                     have gone up and down around her
                     home, preventing the weekend 
		     rallies
                     she used to hold before 
		     thousands of
                     supporters -- nearly the only 
  		     contact
                     with large numbers of people 
		     she had
                     been allowed. 

                     Suu Kyi has denied any direct link to this week's 
		     student
                     demonstrations, other than a shared opposition to 
		     injustice. 	

                     Threat?
		     *******

                     Burma's military rulers used the 76th anniversary of 
		     National Day
                     to publish an address in the government-controlled 
		     newspapers
                     which contained a veiled threat to students. 

                     "Just as the peasantry and the workers need to 
		     produce goods
                     with further improved quality and quantity, so also 
	 	     do students
                     need to work hard in discipline, without letting 
		     anything mar
                     peaceful pursuit of education...," said General Than 
		     Shwe,
                     chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council
                     (SLORC). 

                     ASEAN urged against admitting Burma
		     ***********************************

                     Suu Kyi urged the Association of Southeast Asian 
		     Nations not to
                     grant Burma full membership as long as it is ruled 
		     by the SLORC. 

                     ASEAN said at the end of its summit in Jakarta, 
		     Indonesia, on
                     Saturday that it would simultaneously admit Burma, 
		     Laos and
                     Cambodia as full members of the seven-member group, 
		     but did
                     not say when. The military has ruled Burma since 
		     1962. 

		     [CNN News, 5 December 1996].

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