Suu Kyi's Van Moved To Weak Bridge

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Suu Kyi's Van Moved To Weak Bridge

 .c The Associated Press 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party expressed
fear for her safety after her van was moved to a weak wooden bridge today, the
second day of her latest roadside standoff with the military government. 

Suu Kyi's party urged the government to allow her to proceed to the western
city of Bassein to meet supporters. She started the journey there Wednesday
but was stopped at a checkpoint about 19 miles west of the capital, Yangon. 

``It is the responsibility of the government if the bridge breaks under the
heavy weight of the van,'' the National League for Democracy said in a
statement. 

The van was presumably moved to clear traffic, which was backed up for miles
Wednesday. The bridge, built for ox carts, held Suu Kyi's smaller car during
her six-day standoff at the same checkpoint two weeks ago. She took a van this
time to hold more food and water. 

A government spokesman said in a faxed statement to The Associated Press in
Bangkok, Thailand, that Suu Kyi had not spoken to anyone and that all the
windows were rolled up. 

``A medical team is on standby should she need one and an appropriate number
of security personnel has been provided in case she and her companions choose
to stay by the roadside,'' it said. 

The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, said it would be ``unsafe'' to
let her travel farther. 

Suu Kyi, however, appeared ready for a long confrontation to press the
government to meet an Aug. 21 deadline she has set for a parliament elected in
1990 to be convened. 

Her party overwhelmingly won the election, but the military, which has ruled
Myanmar since 1962, never allowed the parliament to meet. 

Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is severely restricted in her
movements and political activities. Recently, she has been staging
confrontations with the government by trying to meet supporters outside the
capital. 

The last standoff drew international condemnation of the government.
International pressure is one of the few tools at Suu Kyi's disposal to try to
force change. 

Official newspapers criticized Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung
San, as a tool of powerful countries. 

The authorities ended last month's showdown by seizing Suu Kyi's car and
driving her back to her home in Yangon. 

Meanwhile, the military regime in Myanmar gathered 18 detained foreign
democracy activists in a police station today and allowed new visits by
diplomats as pressure mounted for their quick release. 

The detainees were passing out leaflets that the government said were intended
to incite unrest last Saturday on the 10th anniversary of a failed uprising
against military rule. They include six Americans, three Indonesians, three
Malaysians, three Thais, two Filipinos and an Australian. 

Rep. Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican who has a constituent among
the detainees, was on his way to the region. 

AP-NY-08-13-98 0617EDT