Myanmar Opposition Plans to Form Pr

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar opposition plans to form provisional gov't


 .c Kyodo News Service    

pro-democracy opposition party is planning to form a provisional government in
a direct challenge to the military junta, exiled Myanmar dissidents said
Thursday. 

The provisional government to be formed by the National League for Democracy
(NLD) is expected to be set up within this month and led by 1991 Nobel Peace
Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, Aung Naing Oo, secretary of foreign affairs of
the All Burma (Myanmar) Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), told a news
conference. 

''It will be a direct challenge to the military regime,'' Aung Naing Oo said.
''It is really an important step for Burma toward democracy.'' 

The ABSDF spokesman said he is confident that the provisional government will
garner public support in Myanmar. 

Speaking at the same news conference, Teddy Buri, a member of the exiled
government known as National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
(NCGUB), called for international support for the planned provisional
government. 

Buri said international community could support the provisional government by
withdrawing support and recognition of the junta. He also vowed that the NCGUB
would be ''dissolved'' if a democratic government is formed in Myanmar. 

On Wednesday, the NLD formed a 10-member committee to represent those elected
in the 1990 general elections. The committee comprised nine NLD members,
including NLD Secretary General Suu Kyi and NLD Chairman Aung Shwe, and one
other representing four other parties. 

In Yangon, it is reported that the committee held its first meeting Wednesday,
but no details of the discussions or decisions has been announced. 

Buri said the 10-member committee has been mandated by 251 elected members of
the 1990 elections ''to take any measures and make any decisions on their
behalf.'' But he said he had no specific information about the committee. 

Aung Naing Oo said the exiled dissidents learned of the planned formation of a
provisional government via ''couriers.'' 

Authorities under the junta -- officially known as the State Peace and
Development Council -- have detained more than 1,200 people nationwide,
including more than 800 members of the NLD, in an attempt to prevent them from
holding a ''People's Parliament,'' as announced by Suu Kyi. 

Suu Kyi told diplomats in Yangon that she and her party has planned to hold
the People's Parliament this month. 

Myanmar junta leader Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt has branded NLD members ''traitors''
and said the plan to convene a people's parliament constitutes ''treachery.'' 

The Myanmar junta might outlaw the NLD either by citing the convention of the
people's parliament or setting up a provisional government, according to
political observers. 

The junta reiterated in a statement Thursday that it viewed with grave concern
the NLD pledge to hold a parliament session before Myanmar finished drafting a
new constitution. 

''That, the government fears, would lead not to a stable democracy, but to
institutional confusion, social chaos, and genuine political crisis,'' the
statement, which was sent to foreign media in Bangkok, said. 

A national convention has been set up since 1993 to draft a new Constitution,
but the process has not been completed. However, NLD members have boycotted
the national convention since November 1995. 

AP-NY-09-17-98 0611EDT