DID THEY SAY THAT?

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

South China Morning Post
Tuesday  September 1  1998

Defiant junta warns it will not be overthrown 

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Rangoon 

The military regime declared yesterday that the opposition led by Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi could not rule the country without a partnership
with the armed forces........[the rest of the article is about warnings etc]


DID THE SPDC ACTUALLY SAY THIS? THE IMPLICATION COULD BE THAT THE SPDC IS
OPEN TO SOME FORM OF POWER-SHARING WITH THE NLD. 

OF COURSE THERE'S POWER-SHARING AND POWER-SHARING  -- A TOKEN CIVILIAN
VENEER, OR A PERIOD OF POWER-SHARING AS PART OF A TRANSITION TO FULL
CIVILAN RULE.  


STILL, IT'S INTRIGUING. IF ANYONE HAS THE FULL STATEMENT THAT (PRESUMABLY)
AP QUOTED, PLEASE PUT IT ON THE NET


PERHAPS THIS COULD BE TAKEN TOGETHER WITH THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT FROM AN AFP
WIRE, ALSO OF 1 SEPTEMBER:


Aung San Suu Kyi can sit in during talks with junta: Philippine source

       Tue 01 Sep 98 - 04:27 GMT 

       MANILA, Sept 1 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
will be allowed to sit in during talks between her National League for
Democracyand the country's ruling junta,        Philippine diplomatic
sources said here Tuesday.

       The sources quoted the Philippine embassy in Myanmar as saying the
junta had bowed to          demands by the NLD that Aung San Suu Kyi should
be allowed to attend confidence-building talks.

       However, the sources did not say when these talks would be held or
what issues would be been discussed........


DAVID ARNOTT