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News Headlines;
1):Rangoon piles pressure on NLD
2):Six opposition members reportedly released
3):The current position of Ne Win
4):Rangoon refuses to help itself
 .....................................................
1):Rangoon piles pressure on NLD
Mass rallies held to denounce 'anarchists'

Burma's junta stepped up it offensive against Aung San Suu Kyi's main
pro-democracy opposition party yesterday as the organisation marked the
10th anniversary of its founding.
The state-run media commentaries and reports if massive government
sponsored rallies against the National League for Democracy and accused it
stirring up 'anarchy and unrest".
Witnesses and the media said a crowd of some 20,000 people in the central
Burmese city of Mandalay had packed a sports stadium on Saturday, a day
before the party's anniversary to protest against the party.
The rally was organised by the ruling military and followed a similar event
in Yangon last week, residents said.
A commentary in the state-mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar newspaper
Sundaysaid speakers at the Mandalay demonstration charged the NLD with
destabilising the country.
"These people expressed their disgust at what is being done by the NLD
andtheir external cohorts to lay obstacles in the path of progress that
thecurrent leadership has made together with the entire people."
About 20,000 people, mostly civil servants, packed a sports stadium east of
Yangon on Thursday in a rally to show their support for the junta and
denounce the NLD.
The rallies have been among the junta's most visible efforts to
countermounting pressure from the NLD demanding the convening of a
parliament electedin 1990 and which the military has not allowed to sit.
The crowd in Yangon backed calls to protect "peace and stability" in
themilitary state, and denounced the pro-democracy opposition and other
"destructionists".
The NLD anniversary is expected to be marked by party faithful in a low-key
fashion.
"We have not been invited on this occasion, which is indicative of what
scale of ceremony it's going to be," one diplomat told AFP on Saturday.

Diplomats said it was possible the occasion would be used to further the
opposition's political agenda, including its demand for parliament to be
convened. But NLD leaders have remained tightlipped on their plans.
The party has said more than 1,000 members have been detained since the
demand for parliament was made in May.
Opposition groups, including the Thailand-based exiled government, said it
is the harshest crackdown on dissidents since the brutal supression of
student demonstrations by the military in 1988.
The New Light of Mayanmar denounced opposition claims that the call for a
parliament was backed by ethnic minorities which had formerly signed
ceasefires with the junta.
Myanmar's embassy in Washington earlier said the groups had "withdrawn all
statements that might be misconstrued as supporting the NLD's illegal move."
Exiled opposition groups have said the retractions were made under heavy
pressure and threats by the junta.
 The NLD, founded shortly after the junta crushed a nascent student
movement and imposed martial law, proved an instant threat to the generals
in power in one form or another since 1962.
Leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of national independence hero Aung San,
and ex-defence minister Tin Oo, who had been jailed for four years from
1976 for failing to report an assassination plot against former dictator Ne
Win, quickly began attracting large crowds at rallies throughout Myanmar.
The junta reacted by placing them under house arrest in July 1989, less
than a year after Aung San Suu Kyi made her maiden political speech calling
for democratic reform and respect for human rights.
Tin Oo was subsequently given three years with hard labour.
Despite these setbacks, the NLD managed to win 392 of the 485 seats in the
fray in 1990.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the party's general secretary, was released from house
arrest in 1995, but her movements are still strictly controlled.
The NLD's latest move was the setting up of a parliamentary committee on
September 16, which it claims has the support of more than half the MPs
elected in 1990 to act as a de-facto parliament.

2):Six opposition members reportedly released

Burma's military government yesterday said it had released six opposition
members, bringing to 13th number of National League for Democracy (NLD)
supporters released in the last few days.
But the NLD, which marked its 10th birthday on Sunday, said hundreds of its
faithful continued to remain in detention. 
In a statement, the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) said the
six opposition members had returned home at the end of last week after a
successful ``exchange of views.'' 
The NLD on Thursday said the number of its members detained by the military in
a crackdown begun last month had risen to 921. It urged the government not to
detain more of its members. 
The government said all opposition detainees were being held in a ``cordial
atmosphere'' in ``government guesthouses.'' 
It also released photographs on the Internet which it said showed the freed
opposition members embracing their grandchildren upon returning to their
families. 

3):The current position of Ne Win

Former Burmese military strongman Ne Win, 88, flew to Singapore yesterday
morning to receive medical treatment for a blood clot in his brain, an
official source said.
He was accompanied by his daughter Sadar Win, her husband Aye Zaw Win and
13 other people. Witnesses said Ne Win was taken to the plan in wheelchair.

4):Rangoon refuses to help itself

Burma has marked three anniversary in the past few weeks. The bloody
crackdown on democracy demonstrators, the takeover of the government and
the formation of the National League for Democracy all occurred 10 years
ago. Little has happened since then to end the political tension which has
held Burma back.
The military regime has celebrated a decade in power in the only way it
knows how. It has launched a new and heavy crackdown on Burmese democrats
who might want to mark their party's 10th anniversary. As of last weekend,
the junta had ordered the arrest of detention of 921 members of the
National League for Democracy, That includes 200 people elected to
parliament in voting arranged and supervised by the current government.
The distasteful and unwarranted attack on the opposition has become a
hallmark of the State Peace and Development Council. The regime has tried
to cover up some of the new wave of arrests. Articles in the press, which
is completely government-controlled, carried pictures of detained MPs and
organisational workers. Captions said they were enjoying their time at
government guest homes. They were eating regularly, exercising at will.
Propaganda like this only makes the regime look rediculous. Better the
generals tell the truth: They are unwilling to give up their power or their
lucrative position to democrats. They want to continue to receive payments
from drug warlords, the only serious income and the one that keeps the
government afloat.
The Burmese regime has dug in its heels until now. Again last week, junta
leader Khin Nyunt claimed he and the generals would never negotiate with
NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He said the army would always be a part of the
Burmese government, as far into the future as anyone could imagine.
Burma could avoid such a future. The pressure is building and too slowly
for some- for Rangoon to come to terms with its political oppostition. A
military dictatorship is an unacceptable form of government in 1998, and
Asean is already embarrassed by the excesses of the Burmese regime. Rangoon
should come to grips with its political instability quickly. It should
negotiate the formation of its political instability quickly. It should
negotiate the formation of a national government, and ensure it is
acceptable to all Burmese. Such a solution will make the region much more
secure and stable.

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