BBC-Aung San Suu Kyi abandons prote

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Sunday, August 23, 1998 Published at 13:14 GMT 14:14 UK 

Aung San Suu Kyi abandons protest 

South East Asia Correspondent Simon Ingram: "The intense heat and humidity
took its toll"Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has ended her
13-day roadside protest against the military government amid fears for her
health. 

According to the Burmese opposition party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), their leader returned to her home in the capital Rangoon. 

She had been protesting over her right to travel outside the capital, 


Party colleagues had urged Ms Suu Kyi to end the protest because of her
failing health. 

Earlier on Monday riot police broke up a pro-democracy demonstration in the
centre of Rangoon. 

They dispersed more than 200 protestors who had shouted anti-government
slogans and distributed pro-democracy leaflets at a traffic intersection
near Rangoon University. 

The protest, which ended peacefully, was the first street demonstration
against military rule in Burma for nearly two years. 

Aung San Suu Kyi and three colleagues stayed inside a van on a roadside,
32km west of the capital, after they were stopped by the authorities. 

Ms Suu Kyi was reported to be dehydrated, constipated and refusing all
comforts offered to her by the military government. 

Bu the NLD said the authorities had prevented doctors from visiting her,
despite Ms Suu Kyi suffering from kidney problems and low blood pressure. 

'Parliamentary gathering' 

Meanwhile, the government has still not responded to an announcement by the
NLD that it is to hold a parliamentary gathering of Burma's main ethnic
groups within days. 

The party proposed the gathering after the government failed to meet an
opposition deadline for a new parliament to be convened. 

A parliament was elected in 1990, but Burma's military authorities have
never allowed it to meet. 

Since then the NLD - which won more than 80% of the seats in the 1990
election - has campaigned for a return to civilian rule. 

Our correspondent says that despite opposition talk, the army remains in
control, with the regime jailing, torturing and intimidating opposition
supporters. 

After bloodshed 10 years ago when thousands of people are thought to have
died in clashes with the military, it was thought democracy protesters may
have been too scared to take to the streets. 

Possibly in an attempt to defuse plans for protest, the military held the
first talks with members of the NLD for more than a year. 

But the NLD has described the military's previous attempts at discussion as
insincere.