Suu Kyi thwarted from making train

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Suu Kyi thwarted from making train journey out of Myanmar capital


AP Rangoon, 21 September 2000. Myanmar's military junta on
Thursday thwarted pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's latest
attempt to travel out of Yangon this time by train by refusing to issue
her a ticket.

She and several colleagues from her National League for Democracy
were allowed to go to the railway station but were kept from boarding
four consecutive trains for the 12-hour, 560-kilometer (350-mile) journey
to Mandalay, the country's second largest city. They were told that
all tickets to Mandalay had been sold out, an NLD official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

The iron-fisted junta disapproves of the Nobel peace laureate's efforts
to conduct party work in the countryside and has physically blocked
her on several occasions. The last time was on Aug. 24 when she
tried to drive to a southern town, which provoked a three-week
  crackdown on her and her National League for Democracy party.

Earlier, security forces hauled away scores of Suu Kyi's supporters
from the station before she embarked on her latest effort to assert her
freedom of movement and test the military's resolve to impose the
restrictions.

Suu Kyi, deputy party leader Tin Oo and about 10 members of the
NLD's youth wing could be glimpsed sitting in a waiting lounge at the
station after the last train of the day to Mandalay departed at
9:30 p.m. (1500 GMT).

Many plainclothes and uniformed policemen were also in the waiting
area, which was barred to ordinary passengers and other outsiders

It was not clear whether Suu Kyi and her party would try to spend
the night at the station and try to take Friday's trains. Security at the
station was tight, and the day's several trains to Mandalay were
diverted to a different platform from where Suu Kyi was.

As soon as those security restrictions on Suu Kyi and the NLD were
lifted Sept. 14, she announced her intention to travel again and dared
the government to stop her.

Suu Kyi reached the station from her house in Yangon without incident.
Tin Oo, the NLD vice chairman, also reached the station unchallenged.

But reporters were prevented from entering the station terminal. A
British diplomat who was seen trying to go in was also asked to leave.
Passengers could enter after showing their tickets.

Suu Kyi's neighbors had said earlier that police vans and cars had
blocked the road in front of her house, and it was not clear if she
managed to evade them or whether the government let her pass to
come to the station.

Suu Kyi last tried to travel by train, also to Mandalay, in March
1996, when authorities blocked her by saying her carriage had
developed mechanical problems and could not perform the journey.

Before going to the station, Tin Oo said the same situation could
arise Thursday, but said Suu Kyi was willing to wait it out.

''If they stop the train we will go by another train. And even if
this is stopped we will wait until another train is available,'' he said.

By repeatedly locking horns with the military junta, Suu Kyi
hopes to keep the international limelight focused on the
democracy situation in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

On Wednesday, Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung told
the United Nations Millennium Assembly that his government
has been under ''unfair scrutiny'' and political pressure from other
nations while it is in the process of establishing its own kind
of democracy.

The military has ruled Myanmar continuously since 1962. The
current crop of generals took power in 1988 after crushing a
nationwide uprising for democracy, killing thousands of people.

The NLD was formed Sept. 27, 1988, and won national elections
in 1990. But the military refused to hand over power. The party is
now planning to draft a new constitution.