Suu Kyi Accused of Western Alliance

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Suu Kyi Accused of Western Alliance

 .c The Associated Press 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military government accused Aung San Suu
Kyi of colluding with Western embassies Monday as the Nobel laureate spent a
fourth day stuck in a car surrounded by security officers. 

Suu Kyi was stopped by local authorities Friday morning on a rural road 50
miles west of Yangon, halfway on her journey to Bassein to meet members of her
political party, the National League for Democracy. 

They refused to let her proceed and she has refused to return to Yangon. A
government officer said he believed she had enough food and water to spend a
week in the car. 

The military government called the episode a publicity stunt and said the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize winner was being helped by Western embassies. 

In a statement faxed to Bangkok, it accused the party of planning the incident
to coincide with the ASEAN ministers' meeting in Manila and ``to induce
participating countries to berate the government of Myanmar for its own
action.'' 

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It consists of Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Last
year it admitted Laos and Myanmar, also known as Burma. 

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in Manila, warned that the United
States will hold the government ``directly responsible'' for Suu Kyi's health
and welfare. 

She said the situation in Myanmar had only worsened since it was admitted to
ASEAN. 

``With each passing day,'' she said, ``the likelihood of social breakdown - or
explosion - that would undermine regional stability grows higher.'' 

Myanmar's current regime came to power in 1988 after violently crushing a
nationwide democracy uprising. It ignored the results of a 1990 election Suu
Kyi's party won by a landslide.