Suu Kyi's party rejects Myanmar reg

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Subject: Suu Kyi's party rejects Myanmar regime's conditions on talks

WIRE:July 21, 4:08 a.m. ET
Suu Kyi's party rejects Myanmar regime's conditions on talks

AP News Service

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition today  spurned
conditions the military regime had set for holding talks  aimed at breaking
the nation's political impasse.

The government last week urged the National League for Democracy  headed by
Aung San Suu Kyi to be ``pragmatic'' and dissolve a  committee set up last
year representing a parliament elected in  1990 that the military never
allowed to convene.

Tin Oo, vice chairman of the NLD, ruled out abolishing the  committee, as
expected, since the party's legitimacy is closely  identified with the
election victory. He said the party had already  made a significant
concession by agreeing that Suu Kyi, 54, did not  have to take part in
initial talks.

``Asking us to abolish the 10-member committee is tantamount to  setting a
precondition,'' Tin Oo said. ``The door to open a  dialogue is always open,
but we will not dissolve the committee.''

Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has called for a  dialogue
since she was freed from six years of house arrest in  1995.

The military, which has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma,  since 1962,
refuses to speak to her. Last year, two meetings were  held with party
chairman Aung Shwe. The NLD described the meeting  as being given orders to
stop causing trouble.

Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, vaulted to the  head of
Myanmar's opposition in 1988 during anti-government riots.  She marked the
52nd anniversary Monday of her father's murder by a  political rival. It was
one of the few appearances she has been  allowed to make.

Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest 10 years ago Tuesday. Even  so, her
charisma and general dissatisfaction with military rule  gave her party a
landslide victory in the 1990 elections.

The military views Suu Kyi as a tool of Western attempts to  dominate the
country, and expresses outrage that she has supported  foreign economic
sanctions to push for change.

The sanctions have crippled the biggest achievement of the  current
generation of generals, transforming a quarter-century of  socialist

isolation into a more market-oriented system.