Junta prevents Suu Kyi supporters f (r)

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Junta prevents Suu Kyi supporters from meeting at    her home 

Junta prevents Suu Kyi supporters from meeting at    her home 

28/5/97

     BANGKOK -- The Myanmar authorities yesterday prevented supporters of
     pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from gathering at her Yangon home
for a
     party congress which the ruling junta said was a propaganda ruse. 

     Security forces cordoned off an extended area around the National
League for
     Democracy (NLD) leader's house and the nearby party headquarters, diplomats
     reached by telephone in Yangon said. 

     The NLD planned to hold a two-day convention starting yesterday marking the
     seventh anniversary of the party's victory in the last general election
to be held in
     Myanmar. The result was never recognised by the junta. 

     A senior Yangon official said in a faxed message yesterday that the
authorities had no
     choice but to bar the meeting because the NLD deliberately failed to
submit a formal
     request to hold a gathering. 

     Some 316 NLD supporters from outside Yangon, including at least 48 elected
     parliamentary candidates, were reported to have been detained by the
authorities or
     confined to their homes in advance of the meeting. 

     While denying any arrests of NLD supporters, the government has
acknowledged
     that party members have been asked to avoid actions that could cause
"chaos" in the
     country. -- AFP.