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NEWS - Exiles hope to incite masse



Subject: NEWS -  Exiles hope to incite masses to mark 9-9-99

BURMA - Exiles hope to incite masses to mark 9-9-99

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Bangkok

Exiled pro-democracy activists yesterday called for an
uprising against the junta and revealed detailed plans to
incite unrest on September 9.

Dissidents and exiled politicians said expectations were
high that civil unrest would break out countrywide on
that date.

Monks and students were planning acts of disobedience
this week to encourage a "revolution", they said.

Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the August 8,
1988, uprising which led to the deaths of hundreds of
pro-democracy demonstrators and the perpetuation of
military rule.

Opposition groups said the people felt they had an
"appointment" with 9-9-99 - nine is a powerful figure in
Burmese numerology - to repeat the events of 8-8-88
and end the military's 37-year domination of politics.

"No one can predict the future but there is an
atmosphere of possibility all over Burma that this period
will be the beginning of a wave of force that will topple
the regime," said Min Zin, spokesman for the All Burma
Students Federation Union.

"The expectations of the people in the street in Burma
are high everywhere."

Exiled student activists in Bangkok said underground
pro-democracy networks inside Burma were planning
to instigate a general strike tomorrow to encourage
unrest on September 9.

All Burma Students Democratic Front spokesman Aung
Thu Nyeim said activists were also asking people to
wear yellow tomorrow and light candles in support of
democracy.

"We are calling for a strike. We are calling for a
people's campaign on that day to honour those who
sacrificed themselves in 1988," he said.

"The revolution started then has not finished and the
Burmese people will accomplish their goal this time."

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
spokesman Teddy Buri said the country was in worse
shape now than in 1988.

Drug addiction was rampant, the economy a shambles,
hospitals had run out of medicine and 300,000 youths
were waiting to attend universities closed since 1996.

Meanwhile, the opposition party led by Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, which won 1990 elections only to
be denied power by the generals, was stronger than
ever, he said.

"The junta is feeling jumpy," he said.

Civilian militias were being equipped and trained to
counter demonstrators, while provincial officials were
being warned to look out for any signs of
pro-democracy activity.

"These quarters are obviously trying to highlight and
attract attention by fabrication, exaggeration and
speculation," a junta spokesman said yesterday.

"We do not anticipate any unusual happenings on the
so-called 9-9-99," he added, calling the opposition
groups "numerically obsessed".

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