AFP-Foreign activists held in Myanm

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Foreign activists held in Myanmar for fifth day
Thu 13 Aug 98 - 05:18 GMT 

YANGON, Aug 13 (AFP) - Eighteen foreign activists began their fifth day in
detention here Thursday for allegedly attempting to incite unrest by
distributing leaflets promoting democracy and human rights, diplomats said.
There was no indication what action the country's junta intended to take
against the activists, who were detained in the Myanmar capital Sunday,
they added.
All were being well-treated and were in high spirits, though some
complained about the intermittent supply of running water at the two police
facilities where they were being held, the diplomats said.
"It's not a problem with drinking water -- they have plenty of that," one
western embassy official said.
"It's the running water. But that is a problem most people have to deal
with in Burma, it's just the way it is.
The United States Wednesday demanded the junta immediately release six
Americans among the 18 detainees.
The activists had been handing out pamphlets in Yangon urging people to
remember the 10th anniversary of a bloody military crackdown on
pro-democracy demonstrators on August 8, 1988.
The detainees were six US nationals, three Thais, three Malaysians, three
Indonesians, two Filipinos and one Australian. Ten were male and eight
female. Diplomats visited the 18 on Tuesday and several embassies said they
had applied for further access.
The families of the Australian and Filipino detainees were understood to be
on their way to Bangkok and considering travelling to Myanmar, reports from
their home countries said.
Meanwhile, a US congressman left the United States Wednesday intending to
travel to Myanmar to seek the release of the six US nationals, his office
said.
Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, departed after
consulting with the family of one of the detained Americans, 19-year-old
Michele Keegan, whose hometown is in Smith's district.
However, the Myanmar embassy in Washington had urged him not to try to
travel there and it was understood he did not have a Myanmar visa. He was
due to first travel to Bangkok but his arrival there could not be
confirmed.
A junta spokesman would not comment on the possible outcome of the case
against the 18, whom he said could be charged under three separate laws
allowing for hefty prison terms.
Exiled pro-democracy groups have called for a mass campaign of civil
disobedience in Myanmar and warned of confrontation if the junta does not
convene parliament by August 21, a deadline set by the leading National
League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party.
The NLD, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won 1990 elections by a
landslide but the junta has refused to relinquish power.