Reuters(17/11): NLD AVOIDING SLORC'

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Subject: Reuters(17/11): NLD AVOIDING SLORC'S TRAPS.

	ASIA: SUU KYI STAYS AWAY FROM CROWDS FOR FEAR OF ATTACK
BURMA SUUKYI (CARRIED EARLIER)
   RANGOON, Nov 17 Reuter - Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu 
Kyi stayed home today to avoid a repeat of last week's attack on 
her convoy while on the way to address supporters, a spokesman for 
the Nobel Peace laureate said.
	   Last Saturday Suu Kyi's motorcade was attacked by a crowd of 
stone-throwing, stick-wielding men believed to have been engineered 
by the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) -- a 
government-sponsored organisation.
	   Suu Kyi emerged unscathed from the attack which smashed her 
car's windshield and some windows of other vehicles in her convoy 
and blamed the government for orchestrating the attack.
	   The government denied the accusation and said it was 
investigating the incident.
	   This week senior members of Suu Kyi's National League for 
Democracy (NLD) advised her not to meet supporters for fear of 
another attack.
	   "She did not go out, because the NLD leaders do not want her to 
go out," the spokesman said. "They are afraid she would get hurt."
	   He said the NLD heard there were USDA members gathered near Suu 
Kyi's house and thought it would be safer to stay inside this 
weekend.
	   About 800 people gathered near one of the checkpoints barring 
access to Suu Kyi's road in the hope that she would come out and 
speak to them. Some USDA members were among the supporters, 
witnesses said.
	   They said the crowd dispersed peacefully after Suu Kyi failed to 
appear.
	   The government has been trying for weeks to stop Suu Kyi from 
giving regular Saturday and Sunday speeches to supporters outside 
her front gates.
	   The speeches, which began spontaneously after Suu Kyi was 
released from six years of house arrest last July, have become a 
regular event, drawing thousands of supporters.
	   The government charged that the gatherings outside her house 
were illegal, and set up barricades at the entrance to the street 
barring vehicles and pedestrians from entering.
	   Suu Kyi has vowed to continue the talks, and for the past few 
weeks she has gone in her car outside the barricades to talk to 
groups of supporters waiting about 2km away from her house.
	   Suu Kyi normally speaks to the crowd for about five minutes and 
asks them to go home peacefully.
	   REUTER shb

	ASIA: MILITARY SAYS AUNG SAN SUU KYI SET UP CAR ATTACK
BURMA MILITARY (CARRIED EARLIER)
   RANGOON, Nov 15 AFP - Burma's military authorities today accused 
Aung San Suu Kyi of setting up an attack on her motorcade last 
weekend in an attempt to discredit Rangoon in the eyes of the 
international community.
	   "It is clearly a deception on the part of the woman and her 
co-conspirators to have more western pressure on the SLORC," an 
official commentary said in reference to Aung San Suu Kyi and her 
National League for Democracy (NLD).
	   The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), the 
official name of the ruling junta, which seized power in 1988, was 
accused by Aung San Suu Kyi of being behind attacks on her 
motorcade by unruly mobs last Saturday.
	   "It was just a deliberate attempt ... to damage the political 
prestige of the steady and mature government which handles problems 
so pliantly and gently, though it happens to be called a military 
government," the English-language New Light of Myanmar said.
	   Aung San Suu Kyi said the attacks, in which NLD vice chairman 
Tin Oo was slightly injured by broken glass, were carried out by 
paid members of a SLORC-sponsored mass organisation -- the Union 
Solidarity Development Association (USDA).
	   It was the first time the official press has referred to the 
incident, which came on the heels of a visit to Rangoon by two 
European MPs and as prominent United States Senator John McCain was 
in the capital.
	   The editorial, which did not refer to Aung San Suu Kyi by name, 
said "the woman who is a charlatan in politics" had incited crowds 
of "rootless" people to gather at various points and give the 
illusion of political instability.
	   Witnesses said up to 1,000 USDA members wielding sticks and 
stones blocked access to Aung San Suu Kyi's home and stoned cars 
carrying the opposition leader and her top aides.
	   The New Light of Myanmar editorial also said the incident had 
been partly staged in order to cast a cloud over the Visit Myanmar 
Year tourism campaign, which officially kicks off on Monday.
	   Aung San Suu Kyi has been a vocal critic of the campaign and has 
repeatedly called on foreign tourists to stay away from Burma until 
the junta introduces democratic reforms.
	   AFP adh/de