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NEWS - ARAKAN ETHNIC LEADER HELD SI



Subject: NEWS - ARAKAN ETHNIC LEADER HELD SINCE 1998 

ARAKAN ETHNIC LEADER HELD SINCE 1998 

They were subsequently freed to allow them to receive medical treatment,
but the third leader arrested with them, Saw Mra Aung, 82, of the
Arakhan League for Democracy, remains in detention. 

Earlier this week, the NLD issued a statement saying the government had
freed members of its central youth and women's committees detained since
September last year. They had been held at Yangon's Insein Jail and a
military camp and were freed in groups up to November 4, it said. It
gave no numbers. 

The party praised the ``perseverance and courage'' of the committee
members and said they had been unlawfully detained. 

The government spokesman declined to comment on the latest arrests
reported by the NLD. 

De Soto's Myanmar mission followed a visit last year during which he
raised the possibility of World Bank development aid if the government
initiated a dialogue with the opposition. 

So far the military has refused to negotiate with Suu Kyi's party unless
she disbands the committee set up to represent parliament, a challenge
to its rule. 

The U.N. General Assembly, as well as Western countries led by the
United States and the European Union, has condemned Myanmar for failing
to democratise and severe human rights violations, including forced
labour and torture. 

On Friday official newspapers in Myanmar reported that 70 fighters from
the Karen National Union, an ethnic group that has fought the central
government since the late 1940s, defected on Wednesday along with
members of their families. 

The KNU is the largest of a handful of armed ethnic groups fighting the
central government. The KNU and the government blamed each other for the
failure of their last round of peace talks in November 1996.