Reuters : Myanmar junta blocks thir

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar junta blocks third Suu Kyi trip this month 
12:41 p.m. Jul 24, 1998 Eastern 

YANGON, July 24 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling military junta prevented
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from making a trip on Friday to a
western township to meet party supporters, her National League for
Democracy (NLD) party said in a statement. 

It was the third time the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) had
stopped her from travelling to townships outside Yangon. The others were on
July 7 and Monday this week. 

The NLD said that Suu Kyi, who is the party's secretary general, had
planned on Friday morning to go by car with a number of party members to
Pathein, capital of Ayeryarwaddy Division in western Myanmar. 

``On their arrival at a bridge near near Anyarsu Village, about 65 km (40
miles) west of Yangon at 10:15 a.m. (0345 GMT) their car was stopped and
blockaded,'' the statement said. It added that further statements would be
issued as more information became available. 

A government official, who declined to be identified, confirmed that Suu
Kyi's car had been stopped by the authorities. 

On the previous two occasions she was prevented from leaving the capital,
the authorities made other arrangements for her to meet the people she
wanted to see. 

The authorities have on previous occasions said her trips were stopped
because they feared for her safety and in case anti-government elements
harmed her and blamed the govermnment for it. 

It has also blamed the NLD for stepping up political agitiation ahead of
the planned reopening next month of some institutions of higher learning
that were closed in December 1996 after widespread student unrest. 

The confrontation between the NLD and the SPDC has intensified in recent
weeks with the opposition demanding the government convene parliament by
August 21. The NLD swept the last general election in May 1990, but the
military ignored the results and has refused to convene parliament. 

Instead, the SPDC has clamped down on the movements of opposition MPs in
the townships, confining them there and requiring them to report twice
daily to security officials.