AFP-Popular support for uprising gr

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: AFP-Popular support for uprising growing: Myanmar dissidents

Popular support for uprising growing: Myanmar dissidents
BANGKOK, Sept 7 (AFP) - Exiled democracy activists Tuesday said there were
"strong signs" of a growing popular movement in Myanmar to rise up against
military rule this week.
The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) said activists inside the
country said monks had staged rallies in the northern city of Mandalay.

Three army officers had been arrested in connection with the planned revolt,
the ABSDF said.

"These actions have occurred even under harsh security control," ABSDF
general secretary Thu Nyein said in a statement.

Dissidents hope to foment civil unrest on Thursday, 9/9/99, or Four Nines
Day, to mirror an uprising on August 8, 1988, or 8/8/88, which saw hundreds
of demonstrators gunned down.

Sources in Yangon told AFP leaflets advocating democracy had begun to appear
on the streets of the capital ahead of the threatened uprising.

In two incidents, bundles of leaflets dropped at locations in the city,
including the site of earlier student demonstrations, were picked up by
local residents and handed over to authorities, sources said.

On Sunday, a bundle was was left at Hledan in Kamayut township, where
students held rallies in 1996 which resulted in a crackdown by the junta and
the closure of universities.

Another bundle found dropped in the Theingyizay district of downtown Yangon
was also handed in to authorities Monday, the group said.

A source said those responsible for dropping both lots of leaflets had not
been identified.

The ABSDF statement said it was distributing fliers on military bases to
urge soldiers to join the democracy movement. It said three junior officers
had been arrested at a base in Pakokku for debating the 9/9/99 movement.

Leaflets were also being circulated in several border states, including
Kachin, Karenni and Shan, it added.

The ABSDF said a monks' demonstration in Mandalay Sunday was broken up by
the military and a curfew imposed on the city, while several clergy were
detained.

In a separate statement the ABSDF said it had also called on people to
boycott state-run newspapers.

"The state-controlled media consistently uses overtly abusive and aggressive
language against the democratic struggle and democracy leaders," it said.

Myanmar has imposed new security measures ahead of the threatened uprising,
according to witnesses.

The junta has accused the NLD, which won a sweeping but officially
unrecognised election victory in 1990, of working with dissidents to provoke
unrest.