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50 NLD MPs arrested



21May97 THAILAND: BURMA ARRESTS AT LEAST 50 OPPOSITION MEMBERS. 06:32 GMT 
By Deborah Charles
BANGKOK, May 21 (Reuter) - At least 50 senior members of Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) party have been arrested by Burma's
military government, a senior NLD official said on Wednesday.
"Our members of parliament (MPs) and some of our members are being arrested
ahead of the (May) 27th election anniversary," the NLD official told
Reuters from Rangoon.
He said the NLD had heard that at least 50 elected MPs or NLD organisers
had been detained over the past few days as they headed to the capital to
participate in a celebration commemorating the 1990 electoral victory of
the party.
He said the NLD expected to hear of more arrests in the next few days.
The NLD won a landslide victory in May 27, 1990 elections but the ruling
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) never recognised the result
of the poll.
Last May about 261 elected MPs and senior members of the NLD were detained
by the government on their way to attend a party congress timed to coincide
with the anniversary of the 1990 election win.
The NLD official said about 200 MPs had been invited to the celebration
this year, and about 100 senior NLD party members were also expected to
attend.
"Some of those who were about to leave for Rangoon were detained and not
allowed to come," he said. "In the Karen State, MPs were asked by the
authorities not to move from their houses. They are using different ways to
stop them from coming."
He said other MPs reported they were followed on a bus from their homes in
northern Burma, and once they arrived in Rangoon were told to return home
or they would be arrested.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment on the
arrests.
Last May the SLORC said it had only detained the NLD members for
questioning and said it was holding them temporarily in order to avoid
anarchy. It later released most of them although some were charged and
given long prison sentences.
The May meeting last year was to be the first time all elected members of
parliament were due to meet Suu Kyi since she was released from six years
of house arrest in July 1995.
In September another attempt by the NLD to hold a party congress was
thwarted by the SLORC, which arrested up to 800 NLD members and supporters
and set up armed barricades to prevent access to Suu Kyi's house, where the
meeting was to be held.
The latest series of arrests comes one day after U.S. President Bill
Clinton imposed economic sanctions on Burma. The United States is the
fourth largest investor in Burma.
Clinton, who announced the sanctions last month, officially imposed the ban
on all new U.S. investment in Burma on Tuesday, citing "severe repression"
in the country.
The United States and many Western nations have criticised Burma's military
rulers of human rights abuses and for failing to recognise the election of
the NLD.  
(c) Reuters Limited 1997
REUTER NEWS SERVICE

21May97
USA: OIL COS STILL WAIT TO HEAR FATE OF BURMA PROJECTS. 00:32 GMT [REUTR]
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