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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi plans NLD figh
- Subject: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi plans NLD figh
- From: ausgeo@xxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 May 1997 04:46:00
Subject: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi plans NLD fight back
Saturday, May 24, 1997 [ Sydney morning herald ]
Ms Suu Kyi plans NLD fight back
By MARK BAKER, Herald Correspondent in Bangkok
The Burmese democracy leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, is pressing ahead with
plans to stage a conference of her party in defiance of the country's military
regime, which has arrested and detained more than 100 supporters.
Senior party officials gathered at Ms Suu Kyi's Rangoon home early yesterday
amid fears of further arrests and mounting international protests against the
latest political crackdown.
But as the United States stepped up pressure for a tougher regional response
to the repression, leaders of the Association of South-East Asian Nations
appeared determined to proceed with plans to admit Burma as a full member of
the grouping. An official of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy said
she would go ahead with a meeting next Tuesday to mark the seventh anniversary
of the party's election victory.
The party won a landslide victory in 1990 but was blocked from taking power by
the military. Many of the elected MPs were jailed and Ms Suu Kyi was kept
under house arrest for six years.
The party source said despite the latest arrests, dozens of other MPs and
officials were preparing to attend Tuesday's conference. Diplomats and NLD
officials said at least 60 provincial party leaders were arrested this week as
they prepared to head to Rangoon for the conference. Dozens more had been
placed under virtual house arrest.
The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council yesterday denied making any
arrests but said NLD members had been "requested" by authorities not to take
"the course of action which is geared to create chaos in the country".
Ms Suu Kyi appears keen to use the election anniversary to step up pressure on
the regime before a meeting late next week at which ASEAN foreign ministers
are scheduled to decide the timing of Burma's entry to the grouping.
As Britain, Germany and Japan joined in attacking the latest arrests, the US -
which this week banned all new US investment in Burma - reiterated a call for
ASEAN to delay Burma's entry.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, said she was considering
ways to increase pressure on ASEAN over the membership issue and hinted at
further sanctions against the regime. "They are genuinely immoral, brutal
leaders who don't seem to care, so I think we need to look at how these
sanctions are going to be carried out, and at the next steps," she said.