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Wired News: Burma opposition pessi



Subject: Wired News:  Burma opposition pessimistic

    BANGKOK, July 12 (Reuter) - An opposition alliance fighting to end decades of military rule
in Burma welcomed the release of dissident Aung San Suu Kyi but said on Wednesday her
freedom was no guarantee of democracy.
     "Despite that fact that Aung San Suu Kyi has been released, democracy has not yet been
achieved," the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) said in a statement received
by Reuters.
     The alliance of ethnic minority guerrillas seeking autonomy and exiled pro-democracy
supporters of Suu Kyi, said international pressure and fears of internal unrest finally led to the
decision to release the opposition leader.
     "Her release is a mere lifting of the restriction imposed on her against communication with
the outside ... her release does not guarantee the right track towards achieving
democratisation," it said
     Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on Monday revoked an
order which has restricted Suu Kyi, 50, to her Rangoon home since July 20, 1989.
     The statement said the SLORC had a "long history of broken promises" and its "upcoming
activities will have to watched with caution."
     "SLORC needs to revoke its unjust laws and recognise the basic rights of all citizens. Only
then will she be able to exercise her rights as a citizen and work freely for the advancement of
democracy," the NCUB said.
     Burma's military has ruled in one guise or another since the ousting of its last democratic
government in a 1962 coup.
     The SLORC was set up in September, 1988, as troops finally succeeded in crushing a
democracy uprising which swept the country that year.
  REUTER