AFP-National Leader Aung San Suu Ky

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Subject: AFP-National Leader Aung San Suu Kyi marks "Martyrs Day" as state

press urges her removal
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National Leader Aung San Suu Kyi marks "Martyrs Day" as state press urges
her removal
YANGON, July 19 (AFP) - In a rare public appearance Monday, Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi laid flowers for her assassinated father,
independence hero Aung San, on "Martyrs Day" as the junta demanded her
removal from politics.
The Nobel Peace laureate said a prayer at the Martyrs Mausoleum in memory of
her father, who was assassinated along with most of his cabinet on July 19,
1947.

Dressed in a somber black sarong with a white jacket and black shawl, the
slightly built NLD leader knelt at the mausoleum and bowed three times in a
traditional show of respect for her father.

The official media used the anniversary to call on Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) party to dump her, saying she was a
traitor who had sold herself and the country to "foreigners."

"There should be a clean-up within the party for the sake of its continual
survival, ridding themselves of undesirable elements and letting other
capable ones who really love the people and the nation take over," the
state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

Despite the junta's propaganda and the constant harassment of NLD
supporters, Aung San Suu Kyi says her popular support is as strong as ever,
not least because of the memory of her father.

Aung San is a national hero, revered for founding the Myanmar army and
leading the country formerly known as Burma to independence from Britain in
1947.

But the military he created has brutally ruled Myanmar in a succession of
juntas since 1962, refusing to recognise a 1990 election won in a landslide
by the NLD under Aung San Suu Kyi's leadership.

Monday's wreath-laying service was the only public appearance Aung San Suu
Kyi was allowed to make on Martyrs Day. The mausoleum near the famous
Shwedagon Pagoda was blocked to the public during her visit.

She was accompanied by junta representative Colonel Than Tun and made no
comment to the watching media and security personnel.

Junta officials had earlier paid their respects at the mausoleum.

Sources said Aung San Suu Kyi had held a private ceremony with friends,
relatives and invited monks earlier Monday at her University Avenue home,

which is under constant military surveillance.

Another NLD function is scheduled later Monday at the party's delapidated
downtown headquarters, where Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to make a speech.

The regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is
widely condemned in the international community for harbouring drug lords
and condoning human rights abuses such as forced labour and rape.

It has refused to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi about the 1990 election result,
saying the government cannot be formed without a constitution guaranteeing
the military's role in politics.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said in Bangladesh on Saturday that the
SPDC was ready to talk with Aung San Suu Kyi, but first she had to stop
attacking the government.

"The offer for dialogue with her is still there, but first accusations and
criticisms must stop," he said.

The junta has also said talks cannot take place unless the NLD disbands an
interim parliamentary committee it set up last year.

Hundreds of NLD supporters, including scores of MPs, have been imprisoned or
detained since the committee representing the "people's parliament" was set
up in August.

Aung San Suu Kyi says the junta's conditions on dialogue are all "red
herrings" and the SPDC is not really interested in talking at all.

Such are the limitations on the opposition leader's movements, her public
appearances are sometimes enough to spark major confrontations with the
regime.

Last year soldiers repeatedly blocked her car on a bridge outside Yangon as
she tried to visit NLD supporters in a nearby township, leading to tense
standoffs lasting several days.