Myanmar frees 21 opposition members

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar frees 21 opposition members from jail 

AFP Yangon 13 November 1999.   Myanmar's junta has freed 21 members of the 
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) after more than a year in jail, 
party sources said Saturday. 

An NLD official said the members of the party's youth and women's central work 
committees, along with Yangon-based NLD organisers, had been detained since 
September 1998. 

The last of the group was freed on November 4, he said, adding that some 40
NLD 
members were still imprisoned in Myanmar's notorious jails. 

The NLD, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been locked in 
a bitter struggle with the junta since winning an overwhelming victory in 1990 
elections, which was ignored by the military. 

State-run media has been carrying daily reports of mass defections from the
NLD, 
proof the party says of coercion by military intelligence. 

Diplomats say the government has been engaged on a concerted campaign to 
crush the party's ability to organise and to isolate its leaders in Yangon. 


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