NEWS - Myanmar Accuses Suu Kyi of P

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Accuses Suu Kyi of Playing Politics Over Expulsion

Myanmar Accuses Suu Kyi of Playing Politics Over Expulsion

            AP
            28-DEC-98

            BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Myanmar's military regime
            accused pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on
            Sunday of "playing politics" by saying she will fight
attempts
            to deport her. 

            Commentaries in the official press have spurred rumors that
            the Nobel laureate would be deported early next year, and
            pro-government organizations have held mass rallies calling
            for her expulsion. 

            But the government has never announced it plans to deport
            her and charged in a news release Sunday that Suu Kyi and
            her opposition National League for Democracy were using
            the issue to gain political advantage. 

            The government urged the party to engage in a "more
            responsible, constructive cooperation rather than resorting
to
            whimsical and symbolic gestures designed merely to attract
            attention and create seasonal sensational headlines." 

            It said the economic crisis in Myanmar was not improving.
            "This is no time to be playing politics." 

            San Suu Kyi has told members of her party that she will not
            allow Myanmar's military regime to deport her. 

            She said in comments last week that they should not be
            worried. "I am not a citizen of other countries, and I have
no
            intention of leaving this country." 

            The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since
            1962. 

            Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, has
            spent most of the past decade under house arrest or had her
            movements restricted in a struggle with the military rulers
for
            more democracy. 

            Her party won parliamentary elections in 1990, but the
            military never allowed the parliament to meet. 

            The party launched a campaign earlier this year to convene
            the parliament unilaterally, triggering a roundup of
hundreds
            of members. Only those promising to quit her party have
            been freed. 

            Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.