AFP-Regional security hinges on Mya

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Subject: AFP-Regional security hinges on Myanmar stability: junta

Regional security hinges on Myanmar stability: junta
YANGON, Aug 4 (AFP) - The Myanmar junta Wednesday warned that regional
security hinges on stability in the country which is at risk from "vested
interests" such as the political opposition and its foreign backers.
The latest public assessment by the junta's Office of Strategic Studies
(OSS) paints a gloomy picture of regional stability if Myanmar's diverse
opposition groups succeed in overthrowing the military regime.

"If Myanmar's economy collapses or the country becomes unstable, the entire
region will suffer the consequences," the OSS study received Wednesday said.

"An unstable Myanmar with an internal revolution will definitely not serve
the interest of the region."

The junta is known to be nervously watching opposition groups in the leadup
to the anniversary of the bloody August 8, 1988 uprising, when the army
brutally crushed street demonstrations calling for democracy.

Rumours are also rife that opposition groups including ethnic rebels are
planning to mirror the so-called "8-8-88 uprising" with demonstrations on
September 9, 1999.

Unconfirmed reports say Myanmar banknotes with "9999" stamped in indelible
red ink have begun circulating throughout the country in recent weeks.

The OSS study said the junta viewed with "great concern" all actions to
upset "peace and stability" in Myanmar.

"If the actions of vested interests become successful, Myanmar will not only
be once again spinned into a nation of warring ethnic groups and proxy war
but the entire region will suffer the consequences," it said.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recently told the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations that the junta in Myanmar already constituted a
"threat" to regional security.

The regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is
condemned around the world for gross human rights abuses as well as ignoring
the result of 1990 elections won in a landslide by the National League for
Democracy (NLD) party under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The economy has disintegrated under the weight of the regional economic
crisis and Western economic sanctions designed to force political change.


The OSS blamed the United States for having a "negative attitude" and
"unrealistic expectations" which could force Myanmar back into its previous
policies of "isolation."