NEWS - Focus-Myanmar Govt Offers Op

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Focus-Myanmar Govt Offers Opposition Concessions

            Reuters
            07-AUG-98

            YANGON, Aug 7 (Reuters)- Myanmar's military government
offered
            concessions to the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi on
Friday, the
            day before the 10th anniversary of a bloody army crackdown
on
            pro-democracy campaigners. 

            The government invited the National League for Democracy
(NLD) for
            talks with deputy Minister for Home Affairs Myint Maung at
the ministry
            on Saturday. 

            But the invitation excluded Suu Kyi and two other senior NLD
            members from the talks without giving an explanation. 

            The NLD said it could not accept the conditions and turned
down the
            talks, a spokesman for the ruling State Peace and
Development
            Council (SPDC) told Reuters. 

            In another unexpected gesture, the military-dominated SPDC
said it
            was prepared to comply with a request from Suu Kyi that it
withdraw its
            guards from the grounds of her Yangon house. 

            Suu Kyi had asked the authorities on Thursday to take the
guards off
            her lakeside property with immediate effect. 

            ``The government is happy to comply with her request and
discussions
            are now under way,'' the government said. 

            Earlier on Friday, witnesses said the number of security
guards at Suu
            Kyi's home had been doubled to about 15. 

            One diplomat said the offers by the government appeared to
be
            attempts to calm tension between the two sides ahead of the
            anniversary on Saturday of August 8, 1988, when the army
opened fire
            on demonstrators on the steps of Yangon city hall. 

            ``They want to diffuse the tension which has built up in
recent weeks. It
            is significant that the offer is for talks tomorrow,'' said
one diplomat. 

            But others said the offers looked like an attempt to rob the
NLD of
            issues it could use in its campaign for democracy and human
rights.
            The offer of talks without the NLD's charismatic leader Suu
Kyi was
            bound to be turned down, they said. 

            Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar's national hero and
founding father
            Aung San, who led the country's independence struggle in the
1940s,
            but was assassinated in 1947. Burma gained independence from
            Britain the following year. 

            Witnesses said the guards were still in place on Suu Kyi's
property on
            Friday evening and showed no signs of leaving. 

            Myanmar opposition activists have been marking the eve of
the
            anniversary with protests to demand the government convene a
            parliament of members elected at a poll in May 1990. 

            Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won the poll
by a big
            margin but the result was ignored by the military. 

            In the Thai capital, Bangkok, candle-lit demostrations began
on Friday
            evening to remember those who died in 1988. 

            About 200 Myanmar student exiles chanted slogans and held up
            pictures of Suu Kyi in the road outside the Myanmar embassy. 

            Opposition figures say several thousand people were killed
in the
            crackdown which followed the 1988 massacre. 

            The government says the death toll was only a few dozen. 

            But the government clearly recognises the potency of the
anniversary
            and issued stern warnings in one state-owned newspaper on
Friday
            against unlawful actions. 

            The Myanmar-language Myanma Ahlin newspaper, a key
mouthpiece
            of the SPDC, warned Suu Kyi in a commentary to ``give up ill
            intentions'' this month. 

            ``Aung San Suu Kyi should not take advantage of the
government's
            patience and magnanimity,'' it said. ``You shouldn't let
yourself go
            beyond the law, no matter how great the external incitement
is,'' it
            added. 

            Guards have been posted in Suu Kyi's compound since she was
            released from six years' house arrest in 1995. 

            At the time of her release, Suu Kyi said she wanted the
government's
            guards on the premises for her own safety. 

            The NLD has not said why the guards had been asked to go but
the
            request was made shortly after a six-day car protest by Suu
Kyi was
            forcibly ended by government security men. 

            Suu Kyi left her residence for the first time in a week late
on Friday and
            made a 40-minute visit to the Yangon NLD headquarters,
witnesses
            said.