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Reuters : FOCUS-Suu Kyi in fifth da



FOCUS-Suu Kyi in fifth day of car protest 
08:11 a.m. Jul 28, 1998 Eastern 

By Rajan Moses 

BANGKOK, July 28 (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
spent a fifth day in her car on Tuesday as the military refused to let her
proceed to visit party supporters in a town outside the capital Yangon. 

The United States, Japan and other countries stepped up pressure on the
junta, saying they didn't want the situation to escalate and expressing
concern over Suu Kyi's health and safety. 

The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) accused Suu Kyi of
deliberately seeking confrontation and said she was pushing them into
``inescapably'' reacting. 

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said in a statement in Yangon
that she and three others with her were running out of drinking water. The
statement said the government would be held responsible if their health
deteriorated. 

But the SPDC disputed the claim. 

``She's still there. They asked for drinking water and we provided that.
But they have enough food and a week's supply of chocolates, bread and
other food with them,'' a government spokesman told Reuters by telephone
from Yangon. 

Security men blocked the car carrying Suu Kyi, senior party member U Hla Pe
and two drivers at bridge near Anyarsu Village about 64 km (40 miles) from
Yangon on Friday morning. 

They were heading for Pathein township, in Ayeryarwaddy division, to meet
party supporters. 

Negotiators from the SPDC asked Suu Kyi to return to Yangon, but she has
refused and, the government says, is unwilling to negotiate. 

But the NLD said: ``The news that the general secretary (Suu Kyi) refuses
to talk is not true at all...it is groundless since she usually welcomes
negotiations.'' 

``The matter concerning the general secretary and her party's trip to
Pathein will be smoothly resolved by opening negotiations,'' it added. 

The government said it was unfortunate the NLD leadership had adopted a
confrontational attitude. 

``There has been maximum restraint being exercised in resolving the issues
of conflicts and confrontations,'' it said in a statement. ``But deliberate
confrontation by the NLD to force the government to inescapably react needs
to be realistically scrutinised and, more importantly, stopped.'' 

Diplomats at a meeting in Manila of the Association of South East Asian
Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, said officials of the United States,
the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea and Australia
had confronted Myanmar's foreign minister during an informal gathering on
the issue. 

They expressed concern about Suu Kyi's health and stressed ``they don't
want this to escalate and that this incident needs to be resolved,'' a U.S.
official said. 

The SPDC has called the U.S. criticism a superpower witch hunt. 

The government said Suu Kyi was stopped because she did not have her
personal security team with her and it was concerned she might be harmed by
anti-government elements, leaving authorities open to blame. 

It also accused her of trying to foment dissent ahead of the planned
reopening next month of universities and other institutions, closed in
December 1996 after student unrest. 

A defiant Suu Kyi, who has been sitting in the car most of the time with
few short breaks to stretch her legs, has refused to budge. 

Video footage, apparently shot from a moving vehicle last weekend, showed
Suu Kyi's white car parked on a wooden bridge adjacent to the road where
she was stopped. 

An ambulance and a medical team were on standby in the area and Myanmar Red
Cross officials were on hand to provide humanitarian assistance, the
government spokesman said. 

The NLD and the government both said Suu Kyi's personal physicians had
given her a check up. 

``We would like to urge the authorities to allow the general secretary and
party to proceed with their desired trip peacefully before their health is
affected,'' the NLD said. 

The government spokesman said authorities were more worried about her
security. ``She's a sitting target in the open like this.'' 

Asked when the stand-off might be resolved, he said: ``We won't impose
physical force to get her to return to Yangon. We hope that she comes to
her senses and realises that this is a futile way of politicking. 

``But there are limits -- just as anywhere in the world -- over how much
trouble a person can stir up before the authorities may need to enforce
laws to ensure peace and stability.'' 

Tensions between the SPDC and the NLD escalated after Suu Kyi urged the
government to convene by August 21 a parliament comprising members elected
in May 1990. The NLD swept that poll but the military has ignored it. 

Observer said Suu Kyi was showing the world her movements were being
restricted. ``But at this stage it's a stalemate,'' a diplomat said.