Suu Kyi calls for new dialogue (14/

[aungsan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Suu Kyi calls for new dialogue (14/2/97)

Suu Kyi calls for new dialogue
The Hindu (New Delhi)
14/2/97
 
YANGON, Feb. 13.
The Myanmar Opposition leader, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, marked the country's 
Union Day today with a call for a preliminary national convention between 
the Opposition, the military and the 1 5 ethnic minority groups that make 
up almost half of the country's population.
 
Political observers said the proposal amounted to an offer for a renewed 
dialogue with the military junta that has run Myanmar since 1988, after 
snubbing the Opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) since it won 
the general election of 1990.
 
Fifty years ago, Ms. Suu Kyi's father, Myanmarese independence hero, 
General Aung San. persuaded the leaders of Myanmar's 15 main ethnic 
minority groups to sign a treaty of national unification at a conference 
in Pinglong in the Shan State in northeast Myanmar.
 
"The spirit of Union Day, born out of the Pinglong conference, is not 
fully realized even now," said Ms. Suu Kyi in a speech at her Yangon 
housing compound delivered to 1,500 followers. - AP