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Burmese Govt Accused To Kill and Ex



BANGKOK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The military government of Myanmar (Burma) has
executed three Buddhist monks and arrested dozens of others in recent months,
an exiled monk group said on Wednesday. 

``In recent months, the military clique boldly went about committing arrest of
the Sanghas (monks), sowing discussion among them and confiscating their
possessions by force,'' said a statement released by the All Burma Young Monks
Union (ABYMU). 

``All over the country, it arrested 60 Sanghas and executed, from among them,
one in the Arakan State and two in the Shan State, prohibiting the religious
rites and proper burial for the executed Sanghas,'' it said. 

The statement also claimed the government had destroyed 2,254 monasteries in
various parts of the country. 

Neither the Myanmar government nor Buddhist organisations could be reached for
comment. 

The group also said Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) blocked monks from holding a meeting in the second week of December to
discuss problems between the military and the monks. 

The group said the meeting was meant to have included monks from all over
Myanmar and that they were to discuss their freedoms, how to push for the
release of monks arrested for promoting human rights, and government
interference in religious affairs. 

On Tuesday a group of exiled students said the SPDC had curtailed religious
freedom by forcing democracy activists to get permission to enter the
monkhood. 

Last year monks staged protests in the city of Mandalay, sparking unrest
across the country. In response, the government imposed a curfew and other
restrictions in several cities and detained hundreds of monks. 

Monks played a key role in pro-democracy protests from 1988-90. Thousands were
detained after many monks refused to perform religious rights for soldiers or
their families in 1990 following military crackdowns on the country's
democracy movement. 

The ruling junta held elections in 1990 but nullified the results after a
landslide win by the National League for Democracy led by subsequent Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. ^REUTERS@ 

06:03 01-07-98