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AP-Myanmar Denies Imposing Curfew



Friday September 3 11:39 AM ET

Myanmar Denies Imposing Curfew

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.