NEWS - Suu Kyi's Party Marks Indepe

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - Suu Kyi's Party Marks Independence Day under Military

Crackdown
To: burmanews@xxxxxxxxx, "Burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx" <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0
X-Sender: strider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Suu Kyi's Party Marks Independence Day under Military Crackdown

            AP
            04-JAN-99

            YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung
            San Suu Kyi and her opposition party quietly marked
            Myanmar's independence day Monday under the shadow of
            a stepped up crackdown by the military regime. 

            The National League for Democracy held a modest
            gathering in Suu Kyi's compound in the capital of Yangon,
            passing out rice to about 60 women and children -- a gesture
            calling attention to poverty under military rule. 

            The ceremony was in stark contrast to the party's large
            celebration last year, and to Independence Day festivities
            held by the Myanmar military regime. 

            The government marked the day in official flag-raising
            ceremonies by denouncing Suu Kyi and her party as traitors.

            Gen. Than Shwe, in a statement read at the flag-raising,
            declared that Myanmar's citizens were united "against the
            destructive threats of ax-handles and neo-colonialists
            abroad." "Ax-handle" is a slang word for traitor. 

            The military launched a new crackdown on Suu Kyi's party
            after it failed last year to get the regime to convene a
            parliament that was democratically elected in 1990 but has
            never met. 

            In recent months, the military has rounded up about 1,000
            members of her party and detained them until they resigned
            and quit politics. Last week, 256 more party members quit. 

            "Though half a century has elapsed since Myanmar gained
            independence, the prosperity which the country enjoyed
            earlier is slowly diminishing," the National League for
            Democracy said. "Independence has no meaning when the
            people have lost their rights and freedom." 

            The party vowed in a statement to "keep striving for the
            convening of a parliament and to ensure democracy and
            human rights in the country." 

            The 1990 elections were overwhelmingly won by the
            opposition, but the military never allowed the parliament to
            meet. 


            Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- gained independence
            from Britain in 1948 and has been ruled since 1962 by the
            military.