NEWS - Myanmar Military Says 153

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Subject: NEWS -   Myanmar Military Says 153 More Opposition Members Resign

Myanmar Military Says 153 More Opposition Members Resign

               AP
               11-FEB-99

               BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Another 153 members of
               Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political
               party have resigned, state media reported Thursday. 

               The state-run New Light of Myanmar said 125 members in
               the southern city of Myeik and 28 members from the South
               Okkalapa district of Yangon quit "because they no longer
               wished to participate in party politics." 

               The military government says more than 10,000 members of
               Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy have voluntarily
               resigned, and more than 40 township party offices have
               been closed since September. 

               Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders have said the resignations
               were coerced by military intelligence units threatening
party
               members. Suu Kyi has won a Nobel Peace Prize for her
               efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar, also known as
               Burma. 

               The NLD has filed a criminal lawsuit against Gen. Khin
               Nyunt, the intelligence chief, charging him with
illegally
               forcing NLD members to resign. 

               The military government controls the courts, however, and
               so the lawsuit has no chance of succeeding. 

               The resignations began in September after the military
               detained nearly 1,000 NLD members to prevent Suu Kyi from
               convening the parliament elected in 1990. 

               Her party captured 82 percent of the seats in the
legislature,
               but the military, stung by defeat, never allowed it to
meet. 

               NLD members detained by the military were allowed to
               return home if they signed pledges to quit the party.
Those
               who refused still remain in detention.