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AFP-Tensions rise amid call for Aun



Tensions rise amid call for Aung San Suu Kyi to be deported
Tue 08 Sep 98 - 09:34 GMT 

YANGON, Sept 8 (AFP) - An official at Myanmar's chief court has appealed to
the ruling military to deport pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
accusing her of trying to "destabilise the country," a state media
commentary said Tuesday.

The call comes one day after opposition reports of the mass arrest of
members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party and
highlights growing political tensions in the military state.



A commentary entitled "Time for Deportation" in the state's Mirror Daily,
attributed to an unnamed chief court lawyer, accused the Nobel peace
laureate of sedition and representing foreign interests.



"Daw Suu Kyi ... has tried to blatantly destroy the country by deliberately
creating problems," the commentary, believed to be officially inspired,
said.



"I therefore appeal to the government, on behalf of the people, that it is
time now to issue a deportation order and send her back where she belongs,"
it added.



"Since she is undoubtably a foreigner (having married a Britisher) and the
British consul would obviously intervene on her behalf if she were charged
with sedition, the next best thing to do under the circumstances (as a
sovereign state) is to have her deported."



Opposition officials said Monday the junta had arrested 110 NLD members,
including 50 members of parliament elected in the country's 1990 polls
which the opposition won in a landslide.



Observers in Yangon said the arrests appeared to be a pre-emptive strike
following the NLD's announcement that it intends to convene parliament
unilaterally by the end of this month.



The military refused to hand over power after the election eight years ago
and has rejected demands by the NLD-led opposition that the 1990 parliament
be convened, saying a new national constitution must be written up first.



An official statement to AFP in Bangkok Tuesday said authorities had simply
invited the NLD members for a discussion Sunday on the convening parliament
and they were being "comfortably housed at government gesthouses while the
process continues."



"To convene a parliament before the constitution is finished would lead to
political confusion, and possibly undermine national security," the
statement said.



"The government of Myanmar is very concerned at the tragic loss of life due
to political violence in some other countries in the region in recent
days," it continued in an apparent reference to Cambodia.



Political tensions have been rising since the NLD set an August 21 deadline
for the junta to convene parliament. After the deadline passed the
opposition vowed to convene parliament by itself.



But diplomats and observers in Yangon said the city was quiet Tuesday and
only a light police presence remained outside university facilities where
students held demonstrations last week.



The students were angered by arrangements for their courses which have only
restarted in recent weeks after universities across the country were closed
following campus unrest in December 1996.



Junta sources in Yangon Tuesday said a sit-in demonstration at the Yangon
Institute of Technology's (YIT) Hlaing campus had ended and most students
were now taking part in exams.



"Over 70 of them considered to be ringleaders who instigated last week's
campus unrest are presently taking their exams at a separate venue," a
junta official told AFP.



Authorities responded to the unrest by formally closing the campus, which
largely serves as a preparatory school for other tertiary institutions.



Most of the protestors were from outside Yangon and were staying in
dormitories on the campus. Police locked the gates to the campus with some
1,000 students remaining inside.



Some 3,000 students protested at Hlaing last Wednesday while about 800 more
gathered at the main YIT campus nearby. Both protests ended peacefully.



The demonstrations were the biggest since unrest in 1996 when universities
were closed.