Reuters-Myanmar ethnic leaders who

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Subject: Reuters-Myanmar ethnic leaders who met U.N. official held 

Myanmar ethnic leaders who met U.N. official held
06:30 a.m. Nov 12, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Myanmar's main opposition said on Friday the
military government had arrested leaders of two allied ethnic parties who
took part in talks with a U.N. envoy last month aimed at breaking the
country's political deadlock.

The National League for Democracy said Naing Tun Thein, 82, chairman of Mon
National Democratic Front, and Kyin Shin Htan, chairman of Zomi National
Congress, were arrested on November 3 for the second time in two years.

It said no reason had been given for their detention and they should be
immediately released without conditions.

The two were among four ethnic leaders who met Assistant U.N.
Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto last month when he came to Myanmar to try
to promote dialogue between the ruling generals and the beleaguered
opposition led by 1991 Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD's
secretary-general.

``It is very narrow-minded to unlawful to arrest the leaders of the
nationalities,'' the NLD said in a statement. ``The political, economic and
social problems being faced in the country will not be resolved by
arrests.''

The two were among three ethnic leaders arrested in September last year
after backing a committee the NLD set up to represent a parliament never
allowed to form following the party's landslide election victory in 1990.

ANOTHER 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.