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Burma opposition appeals to militar



Subject: Burma opposition appeals to military for dialogue

Subject: Burma opposition appeals to military for dialogue

    RANGOON, May 27 (Reuter) - Burma's main opposition party led
by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday appealed to the
ruling military junta to stop suppressing the movement and hold
dialogue with it.
    In a statement issued to mark the seventh anniversary of its
unrecognised landslide victory in the 1990 election, the
National League for Democracy (NLD) said it was working in the
interest of Burmese people as a whole.
    "The NLD believes that dialogue held in all good faith with
the only intention of benefiting the people is the only main
thing that can bring about benefits for the people and the
nation," it said.
     Prevailing political and economic problems in the country
could not be solved by suppressing NLD members, it added.
    Earlier, the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Counci
(SLORC) successfully limited a large planned NLD gathering in
Suu Kyi's home by blocking access to most party members except
10 members of the NLD executive committee.
     The NLD had planned a gathering of several hundred of its
members in Suu Kyi's lakeside compound to mark the anniversary
of its 1990 polls victory that the SLORC refused to recognise.
    The SLORC had also detained 316 NLD members and elected
members of parliaments nationwide since last week to prevent
them from attending the special meeting, NLD sources said.
    But a government spokesman denied the charges and asked the
NLD to prove the detentions.
     The NLD statement said: "The NLD will ever welcome a
dialogue based on sincerity and mutual respect, national
reconciliation and general understanding free from grudges for
the emergence of a genuine new democratic nation."
    The SLORC and NLD have been in a political standoff since
1995, when Suu Kyi was released from six years of house arrest
and later pulled the NLD out of a government-appointed National
Assembly charged with drawing up a new constitution for Burma.
    The NLD also asked the SLORC to reconvene parliament based
on the 1990 elections as soon as possible to fulfil the desires
of the people the NLD represented.
    NLD sources said that although they had failed to hold a
gathering in Suu Kyi's home, the party's representatives had
already met since last week in Rangoon and had finalised party
reports and matters for communication to members nationwide.
    Witnesses said barricades set up some distance from Suu
Kyi's home to monitor access to her compound were removed late
on Tuesday, but road blocks on University Avenue where her
residence is located remained in place.
    Suu Kyi was reported by the SLORC and NLD sources to be ill
with a stomach upset and had been advised by doctors to rest.
    Diplomats and analysts said the SLORC and NLD had fended off
a confrontational situation. But the SLORC had used firm
measures to prevent the special gathering while the NLD had
achieved its objective of finalising party maters.
    But U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires Kent Weideman told
Reuters he had lodged a protest with the SLORC over the its
alleged detentions of the NLD members and repression of
political activities.
 REUTER
1139 270597 GMT