URGENT NEWS - Myanmar Rebel Group S

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Myanmar Rebel Group Says Political Scene Explosive

            Reuters
            06-JUL-98

            YANGON, July 6 (Reuters) - A Myanmar rebel group said on
Monday that
            new curbs on elected members of opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi's
            National League for Democracy (NLD) could be politically
explosive. 

            ``The present state of the country is quite disturbing.
There is a likelihood of
            it exploding soon,'' said General Bo Mya, the president of
the ethnic Karen
            National Union (KNU), in a statement obtained by Reuters. 

            He also said there were only three months worth of food
stocks left in the
            country. 

            ``There is an impending danger of the country sliding into
serious shortage
            of food and general calamity unparalleled in history. We
have learnt there is
            not enough stock of food even for three months,'' he said.
He did not
            elaborate. 

            The KNU is fighting Yangon for autonomy for the Karen state
and is the most
            formidable of a handful of ethnic groups conducting
guerrilla warfare against
            Myanmar. 

            Bo Mya was referring to stepped up military vigilance of NLD
MPs elected in
            the 1990 polls. The NLD swept the elections, but the result
was ignored by
            the military. 

            The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on
Sunday
            confirmed that it had ordered elected NLD politicians
outside the capital of
            Yangon to report to local authorities. 

            The SPDC said the order was necessary to prevent the party
from disrupting
            reopening of universities closed following student unrest in
December 1996. 

            A government source said that the closed universities and
other educational
            institutions were due to reopen in August. 

            The NLD protested against the latest military curbs and
demanded that they
            be lifted immediately and unconditionally. 

            ``The SPDC has applied outdated laws to impose restrictions
on NLD
            members...as the people representatives who were elected by
people from
            the May 1990 election. NLD demands the military junta
immediately and
            unconditionally lift the recent restrictions,'' the party
said in a statement. 

            The latest political rift between the NLD and the military
follows a new
            demand by the party that the SPDC convene parliament by
August 21
            comprising MPs elected in the 1990 polls. 

            The NLD has accused the military of abusing human rights and
curbing its
            political activities. 

            The KNU's General Bo Mya said in an open letter to SPDC
chairman, Senior
            General Than Shwe, that the junta should comply with the
NLD's demand. 

            ``We are calling on the SPDC to comply with the demand of
the NLD for
            convening of parliament,'' he said, adding the situation in
Myanmar was
            delicate because of the current political feuds. 

            The SPDC has in the past rejected the NLD's demand for
reconvening of
            parliament and said that such calls obstructed the work of
the authorities in
            drafting a new national constitution via a
government-appointed National
            Convention. 

            The NLD withdrew from the convention in 1995, calling it a
sham, and the
            body has not met for nearly two years. 

            The SPDC also threatened to take legal action against those
who disrupted
            the drafting of the new charter in a veiled warning to Suu
Kyi and her party. 

            A similar threat was issued in 1989 prior to Suu Kyi's six
years of house
            arrest. 

            Suu Kyi, 53, the 1993 Nobel Peace prize winner, has
repeatedly demanded
            dialogue with the military since being released from house
arrest.