AFP-Yangon stable but further unres

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Yangon stable but further unrest forecast
Tue 25 Aug 98 - 13:05 GMT 

BANGKOK, Aug 25 (AFP) - Further unrest was forecast in Yangon Tuesday after
riot police broke up the biggest anti-government protests there in nearly
two years, foreign diplomats said.

"We are certainly expecting some more trouble, but at what level, we don't
know," said one western envoy. "It could be like Monday, or it could be
bigger."

The capital was quiet Tuesday but extra riot police were depolyed, with
troops concentrated around sensitive areas, they added.

The junta has warned the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi not to
undermine stability at a meeting with senior members of her pro-democracy
party.

Minister for Home Affairs Colonel Tin Hlaing met opposition National League
for Democracy (NLD) central executive committee officials on Monday to
deliver the message, the state-run press said Tuesday.

"The minister told them to avoid acts which will undermine stability and
peace and the rule of law in the country," the official New Light of
Myanmar newspaper reported.

Diplomats said more riot police had been deployed, particularly at Hledan
junction and the Yangon Institute of Technology where protests were held.

Riot police dispersed two demonstrations Monday, arresting dozens. No
injuries were reported.

In the first incident, protestors were herded into trucks after being
charged by police with batons and shields. It was the biggest such protest
since December 1996, witnesses and diplomats said.

"They just swept through and dispersed them," said one source, adding no
serious violence was seen.

Witnesses said up to 150 protestors and some 1,000 onlookers, who had been
cheering as the activists chanted anti-junta slogans at Hledan intersection
outside Yangon University, scattered as the riot police advanced on the
demonstration.

Rocks were thrown and riot police mobilised during another demonstration
later Monday, diplomats said.

Details were sketchy but foreign envoys said up to 100 students staged the
demonstration near the Yangon Institute of Technology around 7:00 p.m.
(1130 GMT).

"It's not even clear who threw the rocks. We're not sure if anyone was
arrested," one diplomat said.

Sources noted the technology institute and Hledan junction were the two key
sites in the 1996 protests which led to the junta's closure of
universities.

All Myanmar universities remain closed though exams are currently being
held for the first time.

"The government has taken a fairly firm line on these demonstrations," said
another western diplomat.

"There has been zero tolerance. That contrasts with the attitude they are
taking with Aung San Suu Kyi."

Another foreign diplomat said Myanmar would not tolerate any open show of
dissent.

"They saw what hapened in Beijing and Jakarta and they don't want that in
Rangoon," he said, using the former name for Yangon.

The diplomat was referring to the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy
demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and the riots in Jakarta which
led to president Suharto's resignation in May. China is Myanmar's main
partner, while junta leaders had previously said Indonesia should serve as
a model for their country.

The demonstrations came as Aung San Suu Kyi ended a 13-day stand-off with
the junta amid concerns about her health.

She had been camped out in a minibus 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of
Yangon since being blocked from travelling to meet provincial supporters.

It was her fourth failed bid in little over a month to travel outside
Yangon. The NLD had repeatedly claimed her health was worsening and said
she had not eaten for 11 days.

The 53-year-old's condition was not known Tuesday but foreign diplomats
said they did not believe it to be serious.

"She is a physically frail woman and the stand-off must have been quite an
ordeal," one added.

"But if it was serious, even if she protested, I don't think she would be
treated at home.

"Perhaps she just needs to rest for a few days."

Exiled opposition groups in Thailand, including parliament members elected
in the country's 1990 polls, Tuesday called on the junta to hold direct
dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and convene parliament.

"In holding dialogues, the SPDC must talk on the basis of equality, with
delegates, including Aung San Suu Kyi, chosen by the NLD," a statement from
National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) said.

The junta, officially known as the State Peace and Development Council, or
SPDC, has repeatedly refused direct talks with the NLD leader.

The opposition spearheaded by the NLD won elections by a landslide eight
years ago but the junta has refused to give up power.

"If the SPDC military clique is sincere, it must immediately cease its
activities of persecution, limitations and obstruction by various means
against the NLD and the parliament-elect," the NCUB statement added.

The NLD Friday said it would convene parliament, despite junta warnings the
move would be illegal.