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NEWS - Suu Kyi's Party Marks Indepe
- Subject: NEWS - Suu Kyi's Party Marks Indepe
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 21:19:00
Subject: NEWS - Suu Kyi's Party Marks Independence Day under Military
Crackdown
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Suu Kyi's Party Marks Independence Day under Military Crackdown
AP
04-JAN-99
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung
San Suu Kyi and her opposition party quietly marked
Myanmar's independence day Monday under the shadow of
a stepped up crackdown by the military regime.
The National League for Democracy held a modest
gathering in Suu Kyi's compound in the capital of Yangon,
passing out rice to about 60 women and children -- a gesture
calling attention to poverty under military rule.
The ceremony was in stark contrast to the party's large
celebration last year, and to Independence Day festivities
held by the Myanmar military regime.
The government marked the day in official flag-raising
ceremonies by denouncing Suu Kyi and her party as traitors.
Gen. Than Shwe, in a statement read at the flag-raising,
declared that Myanmar's citizens were united "against the
destructive threats of ax-handles and neo-colonialists
abroad." "Ax-handle" is a slang word for traitor.
The military launched a new crackdown on Suu Kyi's party
after it failed last year to get the regime to convene a
parliament that was democratically elected in 1990 but has
never met.
In recent months, the military has rounded up about 1,000
members of her party and detained them until they resigned
and quit politics. Last week, 256 more party members quit.
"Though half a century has elapsed since Myanmar gained
independence, the prosperity which the country enjoyed
earlier is slowly diminishing," the National League for
Democracy said. "Independence has no meaning when the
people have lost their rights and freedom."
The party vowed in a statement to "keep striving for the
convening of a parliament and to ensure democracy and
human rights in the country."
The 1990 elections were overwhelmingly won by the
opposition, but the military never allowed the parliament to
meet.
Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- gained independence
from Britain in 1948 and has been ruled since 1962 by the
military.