Myanmar military forcibly ends Suu

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar military forcibly ends Suu Kyis sit-in 
10:52 a.m. Jul 30, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 

YANGON, July 30 (Reuters) - Myanmars military said on Thursday it had
forcibly ended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyis unusual sit-in protest
on her doctors advice, but her political party and the United States
condemned the move. 

The government said it had no choice but to forcibly return Suu Kyi to her
Yangon home late on Wednesday after noting her personal physicians advice
and the failure of her physician and top officials of her National League
for Democracy (NLD) party to persuade her to end the standoff. 

She may not like what we did to her now but she will be grateful for this
in the future, a government spokesman told a news conference. 

A defiant Suu Kyi had spent six days in her car in Anyarsu village, outside
the capital Yangon. The Nobel peace prize winner had refused to budge from
the spot where security officials stopped her and three associates on
Friday to prevent them travelling to a meeting with NLD supporters in
another town. 

She also had rejected a government request that she return to Yangon for
further talks on her demand to be allowed to travel freely. 

NLD officials said at a news conference on Thursday that the military had
committed a criminal act by forcibly ending her protest and that the party
would consider suing the military. 

She (Suu Kyi) told me that she was abducted by force; that two women had
grabbed her arms on either side and pushed her into a car, said U Lwin, a
top party official said. 

Suu Kyi was later driven to her Yangon home. 

She sent word to this news conference that she will go out again as soon as
she becomes well enough to travel, U Lwin said. 

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in a speech in Sydney that
the governments action ending Suu Kyis protest was an unacceptable
violation of her human rights. 

Today, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was marking her sixth day in the standoff, was
all of a sudden taken in her car by a military driver back to Rangoon
(Yangon) and thereby forbidden from exercising a basic human right -- to be
able to travel freely in your own country, Albright said. 

Yangon-based diplomats had said on Wednesday that Suu Kyi was running out
of food and her health may be failing. But the military denied this and
said it had food and medical assistance at hand for her. 

Her unusual protest sparked wide international condemnation of the ruling
junta by leading countries, including the United States and Japan, which
vowed to continue applying pressure on the government. 

The government spokesman said three top officials of Suu Kyis NLD party
tried for nearly two hours late on Wednesday to convince her to end the
protest but failed. They then left it up to the government to take action,
the spokesman said. 

NLD chairman Aung Shwe, however, said that when party officials went to see
Suu Kyi, who was running a high fever on Wednesday evening, they had
discussed how to end the standoff. 

Suu Kyi had said she would end her protest provided all party members who
had been detained since May 27 were released and a definite timetable for
dialogue with the NLD was fixed by the government. 

We had originally plans to see the authorities today to discuss our demands
with them, he added. However, last night they took her here by force. I
think this is a criminal act because she came back against her will. Its
like kidnapping. 

Other party officials said that Suu Kyi had told them that the military had
not given her water, as it had claimed, and that she had to gather
rainwater using umbrellas for drinking. Food taken to her by NLD officials
was also disallowed, they said. 

The government said it had little to gain by taking the initiative to break
the standoff. But we do not wish to see anybodys life go wasted for no good
reason and that is the reason why we have taken this timely course of
action, it said in a statement. 

Diplomats and analysts welcomed the defusing of the standoff but said they
were waiting to see if the government might take new action to restrict Suu
Kyis future movements. 

I think she and the party may have finally realised that there was little
to be gained from this (protest), she was also probably tired after the car
sit-in for so many days, said a Yangon-based diplomat. 

It also could have been her plan to protest until the ASEAN meeting with
its dialogue partners in Manila ended. But, more importantly, it will be
interesting to see whether after this, the government will restrict her
movements, he said. 

Suu Kyis protest generated world attention as it took place during meetings
of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers and
the groupings dialogue partners in Manila, which ended on Wednesday. 

The government said Suu Kyi was stopped because she did not have her
security team with her and it was concerned she might be harmed by
anti-government elements. 

The government has also accused Suu Kyi of trying to foment dissent ahead
of the planned reopening next month of universities and other institutions
closed in December 1996 due to student unrest. 

Tensions between the junta and the NLD escalated recently 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
ignored the result. 

The Alternative ASEAN Network, a rights group critical of the Myanmar
junta, welcomed Suu Kyis return home and said she had made her point to the
world about the militarys curbs on her and the NLDs movements and
activities. 

The point has been made. She was representing the aspirations of the 48
million people of Burma (Myanmar) who still desire human rights and
democracy, the groups coordinator Debbie Stothard said in a statement.