NEWS - Myanmar Denies Imposing Curf

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Denies Imposing Curfew

Myanmar Denies Imposing Curfew

 .c The Associated Press

 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military government denied reports
Friday that a curfew had been imposed in Karen State to prevent a mass
uprising that dissidents have called for Sept. 9.

A spokesman for the military government, on customary condition of
anonymity, said in a fax to The Associated Press that there had been no
``unusual security precautions'' taken in the capital, Yangon, or in any
other towns or cities.

But the All Burma Students Democratic Front, composed of former students
who fled to Thailand when anti-government protests were crushed in 1988,
reported that an overnight curfew had been imposed in four towns in the
southeastern state on the Thai border.

The Karens are the largest ethnic minority in Myanmar, also known as
Burma, and have waged a half-century rebellion against the government.

The dissidents also claimed that about 500 people nationwide, including
120 in Yangon, have been detained to preempt the revolt, which has been
called for 9-9-99, a date seen as auspicious in this numerology-obsessed
country.

There is little sign, however, that ordinary people are ready to go into
the streets to face the army's guns.

The government spokesman called the arrest figures ``ridiculous.''

The government has acknowledged arresting about 40 people, including
James Mawdsley, 26, who holds British and Australian citizenship. He was
sentenced to 17 years imprisonment after being arrested in northeastern
Myanmar this week carrying anti-government pamphlets.

Mawdsley had made two previous one-man protest trips to Myanmar. The
first time he was deported. Last year, he served three months of a
five-year prison term before being released on condition that he never
return.

AP-NY-09-03-99 1139EDT