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Reuters-Veteran Myanmar politician



Veteran Myanmar politician calls for dialogue 
07:39 a.m. Sep 04, 1998 Eastern 

YANGON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - One of six surviving leaders of Myanmar's
independence movement said on Friday he had appealed to the ruling military
and the opposition to hold urgent talks to resolve their standoff. 

Bohmu Aung, one of the country's revered ``30 Comrades,'' said he made the
appeal on behalf of 23 veteran politicians in letters to the ruling State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) on Thursday. 

``We earnestly urge the SPDC and the NLD and all the democratic forces,
including the nationalities, to hold talks urgently to resolve all
political problems including the one concerning convening a People's
Parliament,'' the 88-year-old former minister said in a statement. 

His appeal comes at a time when the NLD and the government are on collision
course. 

NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi has announced she will call a People's
Parliament this month as the ruling generals had refused demands to do so. 

The government has set the scene for a showdown by warning that the party
could be outlawed if it goes ahead with its plan and that the armed forces
will not stand idly by if it stirs up unrest. 

Bohmu Aung, who was detained between 1989 and 1992 by the current
government, has tried on several occasions since to use his influence as a
founder member of the armed forces to act as a bridge between the
opposition and the government. 

However, his previous calls for dialogue have been dismissed by the
military and the state media has attacked him as an old troublemaker. 

Last month, senior members of the NLD and the SPDC held their first talks
in more than a year, but the opposition has insisted that formal dialogue
cannot take place without Suu Kyi, something the military has long
resisted. 

Other members of the 30 comrades include Suu Kyi's father Aung San,
Myanmar's foremost independence hero, who was assassinated in 1947. 

Another is Ne Win, who staged a coup in 1962 that began the long period of
military dominated politics that has now lasted more than 35 years. 

Many analysts believe Ne Win, also 88, remains the power behind the
government, although it denies this. 

Bohmu Aung was minister of defence under Myanmar's last democratically
elected prime minister U Nu and was jailed when Ne Win took power. 

He went into exile in Thailand in the early 1970s and joined a resistance
movement led by U Nu. 

He returned under an amnesty in 1980 and took an active part in a
pro-democracy movement in 1988 which the military crushed killing
thousands, according to most independent estimates.