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Also in this issue: Burma Detains



AFP · BANGKOK

[July 8, 1998] -- The military mob ruling Myanmar (Burma) barred democracy
heroine Aung San Suu Kyi from leaving the capital Yangon on Tuesday amid
preparations for politically sensitive anniversaries, drawing sharp U.S.
criticism.

The move came as the junta quietly deployed dozens of riot police on the
streets of the capital in a low-profile preparation for a series of
anniversaries marking tumultuous political developments, witnesses said.

Officials said Aung San Suu Kyi was stopped outside the capital Tuesday and
turned back after authorities denied her permission to visit other members
of her National League for Democracy (NLD).

A statement from the ruling military junta said the NLD leadership was
intending "to create ... confrontation with the relevant authorities in an
attempt to bring about social unrest."

The United States criticized the military regime in Myanmar for preventing
Aung San Suu Kyi from travelling outside of the capital.

"We condemn the apparent abridgment of Aung San Suu Kyi's right to freedom
of movement and her right to visit whomever she chooses," State Department
spokesman James Rubin said.

Rubin said the State Department had sought clarification from Myanmar
authorities on the incident and had "reaffirmed the strong U.S. position
that freedom of movement should be accorded to members of the opposition."

The United States has repeatedly called on Myanmar to open up a dialogue
with Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders on human rights.

Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD chairman Aung Shwe were intending to visit NLD
members, whose movements have been restricted under regulations normally
applied to regular criminal offenders, her opposition group said.

A spokesman for the Myanmar junta noted that July 7 marks the anniversary of
a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy student protestors in 1962 and has been
the focus of what he termed annual agitation by the terrorist organizations
and anti-government groups abroad.

"It is regretful that the NLD leadership has deliberately chosen the
occasion to create unnecessary and unwanted confusion, confrontation and
collision and thereby to threaten the disruption of the prevailing peace,
tranquillity and stability at any cost," the official said.

Witnesses said riot police were deployed Monday night on the eve of the 36th
anniversary of the July 7 crackdown and a month before the 10th anniversary
of a 1988 revolt which was also crushed by the junta.

Several truckloads of police were posted overnight Monday near cafes,
restaurants and other places frequented by students, witnesses said.

But they added there were no incidents and the tightened security was
withdrawn in the morning.

There was no sign of increased security or of any unrest in central areas of
Yangon on Tuesday, residents and foreign diplomats said.

"It's business as usual," one foreign diplomat said. "It's the usual chaos
on the streets."

A Bangkok-based Myanmar opposition student group said tanks and security
forces had been deployed at eight strategic locations around Yangon, but
diplomats who passed some of the sites said they saw nothing.

"I drove there this morning," another diplomat said, referring to two
locations identified by the students. "There certainly weren't any tanks."

The All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) said its sources in Yangon
had told them of the deployments.

The junta Tuesday hit out at the rumors sweeping Yangon.

"It is just the standard stereotype rumors churned by rumor-mongers to
create an imaginary scenario where the political climate in Yangon is about
to explode," a junta spokesman said in a statement to AFP in Bangkok.

"The only tanks in Yangon are three museum pieces -- two in the parks and
one in the museum compound."

Tensions have increased between authorities and critics in recent weeks
since the opposition National League for Democracy demanded parliament be
convened by August 21.

The NLD-led opposition won 1990 polls by a landslide but the junta has
refused to relinquish power.


(JULY 6, 1998)