Military and democrats hold separat

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Subject: Military and democrats hold separate Armed Forces Day celebrations       March 27, 1997

Military and democrats hold separate Armed Forces Day
      celebrations
      March 27, 1997
      3.39 a.m. EST (0839 GMT)

      RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Thousands of soldiers paraded before
      generals for Burma's 52nd Armed Forces Day today, and the head
      of the government called on the army to annihilate opponents of
      military rule. 

      Helicopters circled above while young women draped jasmine
      garlands around the necks of the 5,000 army, air force and navy
      troops who marched past top generals, foreign diplomats, ethnic
      leaders and World War II veterans. 

      Only invited guests were allowed into Resistance Park, opposite
      the golden spire of the Shwedagon Pagoda, the country's holiest
      Buddhist shrine. A few hundred people watched from behind the
      park gates, and the parade was broadcast live on state-run
      television. 

      Armed Forces Day celebrates the start of the struggle against
      Japan, which occupied Burma from 1942-45. The country was
      previously a colony of Britain, which granted it independence in
      1948. A period of turbulent democracy ended with a military coup
      in 1962. The army has ruled ever since. 

      Than Shwe, the 65-year-old chairman of the military government,
      accused internal traitors and neo-colonialists today of conspiring to
      cause anarchy and hinder development. 

      The regime frequently refers to Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung
      San Suu Kyi, who leads the country's democracy movement, as a
      traitor, and western countries as neocolonialists bent on
      dominating Burma. 

      "It is our duty to annihilate the subversive elements,'' Than Shwe
      told the troops. 

      Suu Kyi's father, Gen. Aung San, led the resistance against Japan.
      After the war, he resigned from the army to lead Burma toward
      independence as head of a civilian government, but was
      assassinated by political rivals in 1947. 

      Suu Kyi held her own holiday celebration at her lakeside
      compound today, despite restrictions by army troops determined
      to curtail her political activities. Still, soldiers allowed 600 guests to
      enter her home. 

      Suu Kyi honored 16 members of her political party, the National
      League for Democracy, who participated in the resistance
      movement. 

      "Honoring those who had participated in the independence
      struggle is in fact honoring the revolutionary spirit, which is the
      spirit to achieve necessary change,'' she said. 

      She dressed in the colors of the resistance movement, wearing a
      white Burmese jacket, red sarong, and red roses with white
      jasmine blossoms in her hair, and pledged to continue the
      struggle for democracy in Burma.