2/1/99AAP:BURMESE JUNTA PRESSURES M (r)

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Subject: 2/1/99AAP:BURMESE JUNTA PRESSURES MASS RESIGNATION OF NLD.

02-JAN-99
BURMA-RESIGN ASIA: MILITARY CONTINUES TO DISMANTLE OPPOSITION PARTY
ASIA: Military continues to dismantle opposition party

BANGKOK, Jan 2 AP- Burma's military government continued to dismantle
the country's main opposition political party, with the state-run press
reporting today 256 more members of the National League for
DEmocracy(NLD) had resigned.

Although the government-run New Light of Myanmar reported the
resignations were voluntary, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and NLD
leader Aung San Suu Kyi insisted they were coerced.

The military government arrested nearly 1,000 NLD members in September
to prevent Suu Kyi from convening a national Parliament which was freely
elected in 1990.

The NLD won 82 percent of the seats in the assembly, but the military,
stung by its overwhelming rejection by the populace, has never allowed
the legislative body to meet.

The military government of Burma was considered a pariah among Western
governments and had been condemned for rampant human rights violations
by the United Nations General Assembly every year for several years.

The government said it had not arrested the NLD members, but merely
invited them to stay at government guest houses for friendly
discussions.

Those who have signed statements resigning from the party have been
allowed to go home, however those who refused remained in the custody of
the military.

The latest resignations, which came from  members in Shan State and
Ayewaddy Division, or province, bring the number of resignations so far
to nearly 700.

Suu KYi, who spent six years under house arrest for her campaign to
restore democracy to Myanmar, has said the party leadership does not
recognise the resignations as valid because they were obtained through
threats.

She insisted in a December statement her party remained "fighting fit".

Independent verification of the military's clains that NLD resignations
have been voluntary is difficult.

The government lets few journalists visit the country, and when it does
it was usually on the condition they do not contact Suu Kyi or other
opposition members.


But the military has offered no explanation for the sudden resignation
in recent weeks of hundreds of opposition party members, all of whom
belonged to the NLD for the past eight years.

A dwindling membership cound give the government a legal pretext for
deregistering the NLD, a move which would effectively ban the party.

AP rap

3-JAN-99
BURMA-RESIGN ASIA: MYANMAR OPPOSITIO BLOODIED BUT DEFIANT

ASIA: Myanmar opposition loodied but defiant(news analysis)
by Stephen Collinson

BANGKOK, Jan 3 AFP -- Myanmar's generals have effectively crushed the
infrastructure of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition but will find it harder
to stifle a grass roots yearning for democracy, activists and diplomats
said.

As myanmar marks its 52nd anniversary of independence tomorrow, the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is reeling from a
government campaign to close its offices and operations around the
country.

Myanmar's official press has in recent months featured accounts of
hundreds of NLD members resigning and mass rallies denouncing Aung San
Suu Kyi, which diplomats say are staged.

According to latest report, 245 NLD members left the party in Ayeyawady
division and the central city of Mandalay.

Party leaders accuse the military government of forcing thousands of
activiest to resign after detaining them in what the authorities term
"guest houses".

Now, with their office closed, Aung San Suu Kyi and senior leader
appear, as the government may have intended, isolated in Yangon and cut
off from the public.

But despite their confinement, the NLd retains a storng support base
throughout the country, diplomats and exiled opposition activists have
told AFP.

"The people resent the government so much, they yearn for their freedom
and the army will never wipe that out,"said a spokesman for the All
Burma Student Democratic Front(ABSDF) in Bangkok.

And one diplomat in Yangon, pointing to simmering resentment against the
government said "one has the sense this cannot go on much longer".

The NLD may have prompted the government campaign with its calls for the
convening of a parliament elected in 1990 when it won a landslide
victory the military has refused to accept.

The crackdown has prompted some to wonder if the government will soon
announce a formal ban on the party.

"It is something that always comes out as a possibility and I am sure it
is in the government's mind but I don't think it is an natural
progression," another diplomat in Yangon said.

"But I think something else will have to happen, the NLD will have to
make another "wrong"step", the diplomat said.

Some analysts say it is unlikely the government will risk creating a
catalyst for more opposition by banning a party it has effectively put
out of action at a grassroots level.

There have even been rumours that the junta is about to deport Aung San
Suu Kyi, although some analysts feel its is unlikely any other nation
will cooperate with Myanmar and accept her.

Some opponents of the government would not be averse to a deportation,
saying it could shake the country and provoke outrage and disturb the
government-imposed stability.


Mindful of the generals' desire to gag the party, Aung San Suu Kyi has
been seen at NLD headquarters in Yangon every day recently, sources say.

She has also recently joined other party members distributing rice at
party headquarters.

"I think it is to show the outside world and the government that they
are still there," said a diplomat.

"And it also underlines that there are people here who are very huntry,"
said the source, referring to the Myanmar economy which has been reduced
to crisis by western sanctions and an investment drought in Asia's
crisis.

With the media strictly controlled and little freedom of expression it
is impossible to make an independent assessment of the popularity of
Aung San Suu Kyi, known universally as "the lady".

But one diplomat said: "If another election was held today it looks
verly likely that she (Aung San Suu Kyi)," would win.

The government denies it has forced NLD members to resign, saying the
desertions show public discontent at the NLD leadership.

"Everybody is interested in basic human rights, which are food and
shelter--the majority of the country is not interested in politics," the
government's leading spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Hla MIn said.

However, opposition figures say support for reform among students,
traditionally the engine of revolt in the country, is unshakeable.

Tension is so high that unrest could erupt given any spark, they claim.

Aware of the potential for trouble, the authorities have kept
universities shut since student unrest erupted in December 1996. Some
sources say medical schools may reopen Tuesday, a sign perhaps that the
government is confident it has security in hand.

AFP cat
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