Myanmar dissidents start Bangkok hu

[byva@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

                           Myanmar dissidents start Bangkok hunger strike 
                           03:52 a.m. Aug 22, 1998 Eastern 

                           BANGKOK, Aug 22 (Reuters) - A group of 26 Myanmar
dissidents in Thailand said on
                           Saturday they had begun a hunger strike to press
their country's military government to
                           allow the convening of a democratic parliament and
hand over power. 

                           ``We have set no timeframe for the hunger strike,
we will call it off only after the political
                           situation in Burma (Myanmar) improves,'' said Zaw
Wint, a spokesman for the group. 

                           The 26 were among about 100 Myanmar dissidents who
have been camped in front of the
                           Myanmar embassy in Bangkok since August 3. 

                           Most of the dissidents have been in Thailand since
fleeing a bloody crackdown on
                           Myanmar's pro-democracy movement in 1988. 

                           On Friday, Myanmar's opposition National League for
Democracy, led by Nobel Peace
                           laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, made its most defiant
challenge to military rule by saying it
                           would shortly call a ``People's Parliament.'' 


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