NLD Says 60 Detained

[ausgeo@xxxxxxx]

Thursday May 22 

Burma Opposition Says 60 Detained

BANGKOK (Reuter) - At least 60 senior members of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's 
National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested by Burma's military 
government, and the number was likely to grow, an NLD source said on Thursday. 


The government would not confirm or deny the arrests. But it said the NLD was 
trying to create unnecessary problems in the country, forcing it to take 
strong measures against the party. 

Without elaborating, the government said it had no choice but to take 
necessary preventative measures to ensure peace. 

News of the arrests drew condemnation from the United States, Japan and human 
rights organisations. 

Amnesty International, which said Burma had arrested more than 2,000 people in 
1996, condemned the arrests and called for the immediate and unconditional 
release of the detainees. 

A senior NLD official told Reuters by telephone from Rangoon that at least 60 
top party members, mostly from the provinces, had been detained by authorities 
as they travelled to the capital to attend a party meeting scheduled for May 
27. 

He said the number of arrests was expected to grow as news trickled in from 
the provinces. 

"It is more than 60 now, I believe," the NLD official said, speaking from Suu 
Kyi's house, adding that most of those held were members of parliament (MPs) 
elected in a 1990 poll. 

The NLD won more than 80 percent of the seats in the May 27, 1990 election. 
But the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) never 
recognised the result and has cracked down on elected MPs and top party 
organisers ever since. 

A Burmese military official said the NLD was trying to cause unrest by holding 
the party meeting, and that the government could not permit any political 
party to disturb the peace, tranquility and stability of the nation. 

"It is a very obvious political movement by the NLD to create unnecessary 
problems in the country and also by forcing the government to take strong 
measures against them so that the anti-government propaganda can be played in 
their favour," the official said in a statement faxed to Reuters in response 
to questions about the arrests. 

The government made similar comments last May after it arrested about 261 
senior NLD members ahead of a party congress also held to commemorate the 1990 
election. 

It later released most of those detained, but some were charged and given long 
prison sentences. Suu Kyi said other MPs were forced to sign letters promising 
to resign their posts. 

The NLD official said the party would still hold its May 27 anniversary 
celebration, which would double as a party meeting. 

"We are a political party, and we have to do our job. People will be coming. 
They will get here in their own way," he said. 

The NLD official said several MPs who had reached Rangoon were staying in Suu 
Kyi's compound, where the meeting was to be held. He said the Nobel Peace 
laureate, who was rumoured to be ill, was fine but was busy and could not come 
to the telephone. 

There were reports that provincial NLD MPs and top party organizers were 
detained in their homes, followed in buses as they headed to Rangoon, or 
warned not to attend the meeting on threat of arrest, the NLD official added. 

U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said on Wednesday that the 
arrests demonstrated the "perfidious and inhumane nature" of the SLORC regime. 


"It's another reason why we don't think Burma should be treated as a normal 
country," Burns said one day after President Bill Clinton officially imposed 
economic sanctions on Burma. 

Japan, in a statement, also called for the NLD members to be freed and urged a 
political dialogue to seek democracy in Burma.