NLD Goes Ahead Party Conference

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

RANGOON, Sept 24 (Reuter) - Burma's opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party vowed on Wednesday to go ahead with plans to hold a two-day
special meeting in the capital from Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of
its founding. 

``We have decided to go ahead with our planned conference without fail. About
700 delegates are expected to attend,'' an NLD source told Reuters. ``Some
delegates from Mandalay and Magway Divisions have already arrived in
Rangoon.'' 

The Rangoon Division NLD office, on authorisation from the party's
headquarters, had informed the ruling military-led State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) of its intention to hold the planned meeting, he
said. 

When the NLD planned a similar meeting on September 28 and 29 last year, the
military thwarted it by detaining over 400 delegates and preventing them from
attending temporarily. 

Military spokesmen were not available for comment on whether or not the NLD
party congress would be allowed to proceed. 

The NLD, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landlside
victory in 1990 elections but the military never recognised the result. 

The party has been at loggerheads with the SLORC since Suu Kyi was released
from six years of house arrest in 1995 over human rights abuses, repression
and the military's curbing of its political activities. 

Analysts said the NLD may not be able to hold the special meeting because of
freshly damaged ties with the military. 

``It is very hard to say for sure that the NLD will be able to hold the
meeting because of the abortive meeting between the NLD chairman and the
SLORC's Secretary One last week,'' said one analyst who declined to be
identified. 

Some key NLD leaders declined to meet powerful Secretary One of the SLORC,
Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt on September 16. 

08:56 09-24-97