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AP-Suu Kyi Won't Allow Deportation



Saturday December 26 7:53 AM ET

Suu Kyi Won't Allow Deportation

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi has told
members of her pro-democracy party that she will not allow Myanmar's
military regime to deport her.

The opposition National League for Democracy said in a statement obtained
today that Suu Kyi told members last week not to worry about rumors that she
would be deported after the new year.

``Party members should not be worried of my deportation,'' Suu Kyi said. ``I
am not a citizen of other countries, and I have no intention of leaving this
country.''

Suu Kyi is married to a British academic, Michael Aris. The government often
refers to her a spy and puppet of foreign nations, particularly former
colonial ruler Britain and the United States.

``I am not a British citizen, and my conscience is clear,'' Suu Kyi said.
``How can a government deport its citizen if there is no country to accept
him or her?''

The ruling State Peace and Development Council has recently organized mass
rallies demanding Suu Kyi be deported, a call echoed by commentaries in
official newspapers.

Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, has spent most of the past
decade under house arrest or had her movements restricted in a struggle for
more democracy with the military rulers of Myanmar, known also as Burma.

Though she was under house arrest at the time, her party won parliamentary
elections allowed by the military in 1990. The ruling council of generals
never allowed the parliament to meet. Suu Kyi won the Nobel prize in 1991.

The National League for Democracy launched a campaign earlier this year to
convene the parliament unilaterally, triggering a roundup of hundreds of
members. Only those promising to quit her party have been freed.