Reuters-Myanmar opposition renegade

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Subject: Reuters-Myanmar opposition renegades blame NLD for impasse 

Myanmar opposition renegades blame NLD for impasse
04:53 a.m. May 11, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, May 11 (Reuters) - A group of renegade opposition politicians
accused by Myanmar's National League for Democracy of colluding with the
ruling military blamed the party leadership on Tuesday for the lack of
dialogue with the generals.

``What we want to take is not the confrontational line, but to build
reconciliation between the military and the politicians,'' Hla Soe, one of a
handful of current and former NLD members who drafted a letter last month
critical of the party's policies, told a news conference.

Another, Tin Tun Maung, said the NLD had failed to give due consideration to
the letter, in which the writers said they believed the military was serious
about setting up a multi-party system and entering a dialogue with the
opposition to implement the results of a general election nine years ago.

The NLD, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won the poll by a
landslide but the military ignored the result.

Last week the NLD accused the letter writers of colluding with the military
to split the party, which has been harassed by arrests and restrictions
throughout the past decade.

It said most of the 25 NLD members of parliament whose names appeared as
signatories to the letter were in detention and that changes had been made
to the text they signed.

The news conference was attended by eight politicians who signed the letter.
The top two signatories, Than Tun and Thein Kyi, were expelled by the NLD in
1996 for trying to split the party.

Their letter urged the NLD to reassess its policy of convening parliament
and find a new approach to secure talks with the government.

The military has accused the NLD of obstructing dialogue, but the party says
its only condition is it should be allowed to choose who takes part. The
government refuses to talk to Suu Kyi, who has long been the biggest thorn
in its side.

The group said the NLD leaders were letting personalities get in the way of
dialogue.

The news conference was attended by eight of the 25, who said that neither
the NLD nor the government had shown any interest in the proposals in their
letter.

Apart from the two previously expelled from the NLD, three of were suspended
on May 4 after the letter was submitted.