Myanmar arrests dissidents, opposit

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Subject: Myanmar arrests dissidents, opposition activists

Myanmar arrests dissidents, opposition activists
05:47 a.m. Jan 24, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Myanmar has arrested members of the main
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and an exiled anti-government
group for allegedly inciting student riots in November and December 1998,
the official Myanma News Agency (MNA) reported on Sunday.

The agency did not say how many people had been arrested, but it published
photographs of 11 persons said to be held by the country's military rulers.

It identified the exiled group as the People's Defence Force (PDF), formed
in 1990, and based along the Thai border.

``The authorities concerned have exposed the case of the anti-government
elements who dropped and distributed instigative pamphlets in the toilets of
the Institute of Medicine 2, on buses and at bus stops and public parks...
during November and December 1998,'' the news agency said.

During November and December of last year some students at medical colleges
in Yangon were reported to have staged anti-government protests, although
the protests did not spread and were contained by the authorities.

The NLD, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has long been at
loggerheads with the ruling State Peace and Development Council over demands
for democratic reform and human rights.

The agency said an organiser of the PDF, Khin Soe, was detained while
carring pamphlets on December 22 1998. At the same time a number of NLD
members were also picked up allegedly doing the same thing.

The PDF had collaborated withe the armed rebel Karen National Union (KNU)
group based along the border with Thailand, the agency added. The KNU is
fighting the military government in its quest for an independent Karen state
in Myanmar.

The news agency reported that legal action would be taken against those held
for what it called creating public confusion and disturbing the peace.