The Nation : Burmese junta's offer

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The Nation
Politics 
Burmese junta's offer of talks turned down


THE Burmese opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Friday
it had been offered a dialogue with a senior member of the junta but could
not accept the conditions of the talks. 

NLD said the invitation from Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Myint Maung
said that three senior NLD members including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi were to be excluded from the talks. 

The opposition did not directly say it had turned down the offer of talks,
to be held on Saturday on the 10th anniversary of Burma's democracy
uprising, but said it needed to know the subject and could not accept the
exclusion of the three members. 

''We feel that merely extending an invitation is not a sufficient reason
for the chairman to go and see the deputy minister,'' the NLD statement
said. ''It is necessary to know the purpose of the invitation. As a
political party, NLD will be able to make necessary preparations and decide
what to do once the purpose is known.'' 

This is the second time that a government offer of talks has been rebuffed
by the NLD. In September 1997 the NLD turned down an offer to meet Khin
Nyunt, secretary of the ruling military State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), because the government wanted to exclude Suu Kyi. 

Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma's late national hero Aung San, has been a thorn
in the side of the government since she was released from house arrest in
July 1995. She has waged a campaign to keep her party's struggle for
democracy in international headlines. 

Party officials said Suu Kyi had been left on Friday without any channels
of communication with the country's junta and protected only by young
supporters after she demanded official bodyguards leave her compound. 

The move, on the eve of the 10th anniversary on Saturday of a bloody
military crack-down on pro-democracy demonstrators which left thousands
dead according to unofficial tolls, immediately sparked concern for her
safety. 

''We feel that Suu Kyi is now free from prying eyes inside her own
compound,'' one official said. 

'However, on the other hand, the youths who have taken over do not really
have the experience in giving protection.'' 

The junta ordered the withdrawal of 12 intelligence agents, two immigration
officers and six special-branch police officers, from the NLD chief's
compound hours after she demanded they leave on Thursday, the party
officials said. 

A statement from NLD said Suu Kyi had sent a letter to the government on
July 31 asking for the detail's removal. 

Police and intelligence maintained surveillance of the compound from
outside on Friday, as every day. The police have been reporting on Suu
Kyi's activities since her release from house arrest in 1995. 

Military intelligence also keeps a house across the street from Suu Kyi's
home from which it monitors her visitors and movements. Police have set up
checkpoints on her street to screen and sometimes stop visitors. 

The status of the house and the checkpoints have not been mentioned by the
government. 

The junta's compliance with Suu Kyi's demands is seen as a way to quell the
tension as opposition and pro-democracy supporters support the anniversary.


Suu Kyi left her home on Friday to meet supporters at the Rangoon office of
her political party. 



The Nation, Agencies