Suu Kyi again risks wrath of genera

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BURMA

Suu Kyi again risks wrath of generals
Date: 03/09/98



Rangoon: The Burmese opposition leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was scheduled to
meet foreign diplomats yesterday in a move which may antagonise her
country's military rulers and provoke a further crackdown on her and her
supporters.

Ms Suu Kyi is locked in a bitter battle with the junta, which took power in
1988 and refuses to turn over power to a parliament democratically elected
in 1990, when her National League for Democracy party won a landslide
victory in the polls.

A US Embassy spokesman described the planned get-together as a routine
meeting of diplomats with Ms Suu Kyi. It was also intended to "to foster
dialogue, national reconciliation and a peaceful transition to democracy",
he said.

The authorities have occasionally blocked Ms Suu Kyi from meetings with
foreign diplomats, but it was unclear what they would do this time.

Last week the league announced its would unilaterally convene a
parliamentary session. The Government has warned that that would be illegal
and put those taking part at risk of long prison terms.

Ms Suu Kyi, 53, the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, spent 13 days in
July parked in a van on a bridge outside Rangoon in protest after the
authorities prevented her for the fourth time from travelling to the
provinces to meet supporters.

- Associated Press