BURMA OPPOSITION CALLS FOR TALKS WI

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Subject: BURMA OPPOSITION CALLS FOR TALKS WITH MILITARY


Burma opposition calls for talks with military 
 07:55 a.m. Aug 08, 1997 Eastern 

 RANGOON, Aug 8 (Reuter) - Burma's main opposition National
 League for Democracy (NLD) has asked for further talks with the
 military government, saying the two sides share the same political
 goal. 

 The NLD this week sent an 18-page open letter to Senior General
 Than Shwe, the chairman of the ruling State Law and Order
 Restoration Council (SLORC). 

 ``The SLORC has repeatedly pledged to establish democracy in
 Myanmar (Burma)... As for the NLD, to build democracy in the
 country has always been the main objective of the NLD,'' said the
 letter, signed by NLD Chairman Aung Shwe. 

 ``Since the two groups are sharing a common objective, there should
 be no reason that prevents them from holding talks for resolving the
 problems which the country is facing.'' 

 A meeting between Aung Shwe and the SLORC's Lieutenant
 General Khin Nyunt last month was the first high level contact
 between the two groups since NLD leader and Nobel Peace
 laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was released from six years of house
 arrest in 1995. 

 The NLD won a landslide election in 1990 that the SLORC has
 never recognised. The NLD has made repeated requests for
 dialogue since Suu Kyi's release, but those calls went unanswered
 until last month. 

 Further talks would help the two sides satisfy the wishes of the
 Burmese people, the NLD letter said. 

 ``By holding dialogue, both the SLORC and the NLD will be fulfilling
 the desire of the entire people,'' the letter said. 

 The NLD stopped short of calling last month's talks with Khin Nyunt
 ``dialogue'' as they say true dialogue must include Suu Kyi.
 ^REUTER@