Suu Kyi's van moved to bridge

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Suu Kyi's van moved to
               bridge; party says government
                             responsible

                             The Associated Press
                           08/13/98 6:14 AM Eastern

              YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Opposition leader Aung San Suu
              Kyi's party expressed fear for her safety after her van was
              moved to a weak wooden bridge today, the second day of her
              latest roadside standoff with the military government.

              Suu Kyi's party urged the government to allow her to proceed
to
              the western city of Bassein to meet supporters. She started
the
              journey there Wednesday but was stopped at a checkpoint
              about 19 miles west of the capital, Yangon.

              "It is the responsibility of the government if the bridge
breaks
              under the heavy weight of the van," the National League for
              Democracy said in a statement.

              The van was presumably moved to clear traffic, which was
              backed up for miles Wednesday. The bridge, built for ox carts,
              held Suu Kyi's smaller car during her six-day standoff at the
              same checkpoint two weeks ago. She took a van this time to
              hold more food and water.

              A government spokesman said in a faxed statement to The
              Associated Press in Bangkok, Thailand, that Suu Kyi had not
              spoken to anyone and that all the windows were rolled up.

              "A medical team is on standby should she need one and an
              appropriate number of security personnel has been provided in
              case she and her companions choose to stay by the roadside,"
it
              said.

              The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, said it
              would be "unsafe" to let her travel farther.

              Suu Kyi, however, appeared ready for a long confrontation to
              press the government to meet an Aug. 21 deadline she has set
              for a parliament elected in 1990 to be convened.

              Her party overwhelmingly won the election, but the military,
              which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, never allowed the
              parliament to meet.

              Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is severely
              restricted in her movements and political activities.
Recently, she
              has been staging confrontations with the government by trying
              to meet supporters outside the capital.

              The last standoff drew international condemnation of the
              government. International pressure is one of the few tools at
Suu
              Kyi's disposal to try to force change.

              Official newspapers criticized Suu Kyi, daughter of
              independence hero Aung San, as a tool of powerful countries.

              The authorities ended last month's showdown by seizing Suu
              Kyi's car and driving her back to her home in Yangon.

              Meanwhile, the military regime in Myanmar gathered 18 detained
              foreign democracy activists in a police station today and
              allowed new visits by diplomats as pressure mounted for their
              quick release.

              The detainees were passing out leaflets that the government
said
              were intended to incite unrest last Saturday on the 10th
              anniversary of a failed uprising against military rule. They
include
              six Americans, three Indonesians, three Malaysians, three
Thais,
              two Filipinos and an Australian.

              Rep. Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican who has a
              constituent among the detainees, was on his way to the region.