Burma Pospones 2nd Marathon

[waterly@xxxxxxxxx]

Burma Postpones 2nd
                     Marathon 

                     Saturday, December 28, 1996 8:03 am EST 

                     RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Burma's military regime postponed a
                     second marathon today in a bid to ward off unrest after
the bombing
                     of a pagoda compound left five people dead. 

                     The Jan. 5 race in Mandalay, Burma's second-largest
city, was
                     postponed indefinitely, state-run newspapers reported.
A December
                     marathon in Rangoon also was suspended this week. 

                     The government did not say why it was canceling the
races, but both
                     cities were the site of student demonstrations earlier
this month, the
                     largest street protests since the army crushed a
pro-democracy
                     uprising in 1988. 

                     Two bombs exploded Wednesday near a pagoda frequented by
                     senior government leaders, where a sacred relic
believed to be a
                     2,500-year-old tooth of the Buddha was on display. The
compound
                     remained closed to the public today. 

                     A crowd of about 150 people waited in vain today for
                     pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at an
intersection where
                     she occasionally meets supporters on weekends. 

                     She ended three weeks of house confinement Friday and
visited the
                     grave of her mother, diplomat Khin Kyi, on the eighth
anniversary
                     of her death. 

                     Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her
nonviolent
                     promotion of democracy, had not left her house since
Dec. 5, at the
                     height of the student demonstrations. Authorities had
told her
                     leaving would be unsafe.