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BURMA/MAJOR UNREST



Myanmar guerrilla leader warns of major unrest

 .c Kyodo News Service  

  
BANGKOK, Aug. 26 (Kyodo) - Myanmar's military junta faces a major uprising
in the near future because of economic crisis and growing political
instability, a rebel leader said in a letter made available in Bangkok on
Thursday. 

Bo Mya, leader of the Karen National Union (KNU), a major guerrilla force
against the government in Yangon, said people in Myanmar are growing ever
more discontent because of high inflation and high commodity prices,
particularly for rice. 

Students and opposition leaders, known locally as the ''four nines''
movement, have called a general strike against the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), the junta, for Sept. 9. 

The leaders hope to create even more political tension in Myanmar, but the
junta has already arrested 37 activists in connection with the four-nines
protest. 

Bo Mya, 72, also chairman of the National Council of the Union of Burma, an
umbrella organization of democracy and minority rebels, called for a
tripartite political dialogue among the junta, democracy groups and ethnic
minorities as a comprehensive means to end conflict in the country. 

''We would like to solve the political problems of the country by political
means, so that Burma (Myanmar) can become a peaceful, united and democratic
country, and a genuine federal union,'' he said in the letter to Than Shwe,
chairman of SPDC. 

The guerrilla leader has called for dialogue since 1993, but the ruling
junta has never responded. 

Based in a remote area on the Thai-Myanmar border, Bo Mya's KNU has fought
for autonomy since 1947.