NEWS - Myanmar hits at ``rumours''

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar hits at ``rumours'' after mass arrest report

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Myanmar hits at ``rumours'' after mass arrest report

  
BANGKOK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling military on Sunday accused
dissidents in exile of ``spreading malicious rumours'' after they said
authorities had arrested about 500 people to thwart an uprising called
for this week. 

The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), an exile group based
on the Thai-Myanmar border, said in a weekend statement that the
military had recently arrested about 500 people, including 140 people in
Yangon. 

``There have been a lot of rumours being created...to falsely portray a
picture where Myanmar is about to explode politically,'' the military
said in a statement which did not specifically deny the reported
arrests. 

Opposition groups should contribute to national development ``instead of
spreading malicious rumours,'' it added. 

The ABSDF statement said among those arrested were high school students
and dissidents who were prominent student leaders in Myanmar's 1988
uprising for democracy. The military killed thousands to crush that
uprising. 

Dissidents who fled that crackdown to the Thai border have called for a
repeat of the uprising on the ``four nines day'' -- September 9, 1999.
Nine is considered an auspicious number by some in Myanmar. 

The ABSDF said the four nines movement, ridiculed by the military as
``numerically obsessed,'' had been gaining momentum. 

``The military has been reacting to the atmosphere of potential they
know is there. If they did not really care or believe the potential
existed, why have they prepared road blockades and checkpoints? Why have
they arrested so many people?,'' the group said. 

The government has admitted arresting 36 people in the provinces to
thwart the uprising call. 

Diplomats in Yangon say at least dozens more have been detained and that
the authorities have stepped up security measures including highway
checkpoints and random searches and questioning of travellers. 

On Thursday, the government said a British activist arrested last week
was being jailed for 17 years for illegally entering the country to
demonstrate for democracy. James Mawdsley, 26, from Lancashire who also
holds an Australian passport, was arrested with anti-government
leaflets. 

Myanmar's military has been criticised worldwide for human rights abuses
since crushing the 1988 uprising and ignoring the result of a 1990
election when the opposition National League for Democracy won by a
landslide. 

Anti-government sentiment remains strong but diplomats doubt many
ordinary people will be willing to risk open street protest this week
for fear of a repeat of the 1988 bloodshed. 

09:56 09-05-99