[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

NLD, Slorc trapped in a stalemate



Slorc, NLD trapped in a stalemate
PHILIP MCCLELLAN
Agence France Presse
29.4.96/The Nation

RANGOON - Nine months after Aung San Suu Kyi was released from
house arrest, Burma's government and opposition are locked in a
stalemate from which neither side seems willing to back down.

In public the ruling junta has down-played the significance of
the popular opposition leader, but has repeatedly harangued her
in the official media as an "internal destructionist" bent on
undermining state stability.

"She is speaking nonsense ... and is power crazy," senior junta
member Lt Gen Kyaw Ba, who is also minister for hotels and
tourism, said on Friday.

"In Myanmar [Burma] we have a saying: 'When the lice jump, dust
is not going to fly'," he said when asked if the junta was
worried about Aung San Suu Kyi's popularity and influence across
'the country.

"It has become clear that the Slorc has no intention of changing
its game plan," said one Rangoon-based analyst, referring to the
State Law and Order Restoration Council, as the junta is
officially known.

That game plan, he said, consisted of ignoring the opposition's
calls for dialogue and slowly hardening its position against Aung
San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy
(NLD). NLD members have complained increasingly about what they
see as a growing pattern of harassment against them.

The most recent example was the arrest earlier this month of Leo
Nichols a close friend of Aung San Suu Kyi. A number of NLD
members and supporters have received heavy prison sentences in
the past few months for what the party has claimed were peaceful
political activities.

In a recorded message played before the UN Commission of Human
Rights in Geneva on April 17, Aung San Suu Kyi said that "lawless
methods were being used to repress and harass" NLD members and
supporters.

"These cases are merely the tip of an iceberg of harassment and
repression that is going on throughout the whole country," she
said.

The NLD has also made moves to up the political ante and is now
calling for the immediate convening of parliament- to be attended
by MPs elected in 1990 polls which were overwhelmingly won by the
NLD.

"Since the NLD left the National Convention back in November, it
has been obvious that they will not deal with Slorc on Slorc's
terms," a diplomat said.
     
The National Convention, aimed at drawing up a new constitution
for the country, was denounced by Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD as
a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.

Aung San Suu Kyi remains widely popular with the people of Burma
and her speeches outside her home continue to draw up to 2,000
people every weekend.

"The fact that the Slorc lets her hold her meetings on Saturdays
and Sundays is a measure of their confidence in controlling the
situation," one diplomat said.

However, even if the junta is confident enough to allow the
meetings to continue, the gatherings are clearly an irritant to
the authorities.

In Bangkok, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)
claimed yesterday that the junta's armed forces have more than
doubled since 1988.

Numbering 186,000 in 1988, the Slorc now has a combined military
strength of 400,000, according to the ABSDF, which is Burma's
main student opposition group.

Information of how Slorc has "hood-winked the international
community" by "extending its military might with a low profile"
was provided by a Burmese military captain who recently defected
from the Slorc forces, the ABSDF said.

*****************************************************************

Related News.......

Burma levels accusations at Suu Kyi friend
29.4.96/The Nation__

RANGOON - Burma's military government accused an arrested
businessman of providing financial aid to opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and of communicating with the nation's enemies.

James Leander Nichols, 65, an Anglo-Burmese, was arrested earlier
this month for using nine telephones and two fax machines without
permission from the Burmese Post and Telecommunication
Department.

"The broadcasting stations claim that he [Nichols] is well
acquainted with the democratic stunt actress," Burmese official
media said yesterday in a reference to Aung San Suu Kyi.

"But he is not a true acquaintance. He is providing general
expenses of the democracy stunt actress," said the media
commentary, entitled "Turn back or face more embarrassment".

He has also provided assistance from entertainment expenses to
hiring a gardener at Suu Kyi's residence, the commentary said.

But it said the arrest of Nichols as not because he was well
acquainted with Suu Kyi or was providing her assistance, but
because he had violated Burmese law.

"He has installed telephone lines and fax illegally and has much
contacts I with the countries which are applying a pressure to
Burma through various d means and opposing it," the commentary
said.

Nichols is widely known as a close friend of Suu Kyi, who was
released from six years of house arrest last July after being
detained for her out-spoken criticism of the military rulers the
State Law- and Order Restoration Council.
     
Democracy supporters in Rangoon said Nichols had lent a car to
Suu Kyi but had no financial ties to her National League for
Democracy party.

*****************************************************************

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/


*****************************************************************
Typed by the Research Department of the ABSDF [MTZ]
*****************************************************************