Dissidents Condemn Junta Over Suu K

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Dissidents condemn junta over Suu Kyi travel curbs

 .c Kyodo News Service    

Thailand condemned Myanmar's junta Thursday for barring pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi from traveling outside Yangon. 

The National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), representing 19 ethnic
minority and pro-democracy organizations, demanded in a statement that the
military government ''immediately lift the restrictions on Daw (Mrs.) Aung San
Suu Kyi's freedom of movement.'' 

Suu Kyi, who heads the National League for Democracy (NLD), defied the junta's
ban and set out by car Wednesday from Yangon, but was stopped by police 32
kilometers west of the capital at the same place where she was forced to halt
last month. 

She had wanted to go on to Pathein, 200 km west of Yangon. 

The NCUB also demanded that Yangon ''immediately release'' 18 foreign human
rights activists detained since Sunday for distributing pro-democracy messages
in Yangon. 

''The 18, from the United States, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Thailand and Australia, were merely expressing their solidarity with the
people of Burma (Myanmar) and should be released immediately along with all
Burma's political prisoners,'' the statement said. 

The dissident group also urged the military government -- which now calls
itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) -- to convene the
parliament that was elected in 1990. 

Suu Kyi's NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta has
refused to relinquish power. 

The NCUB's demands were echoed by four other Myanmar dissident student groups
based in Thailand -- the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, the Overseas
National Students Organization of Burma, the All Burma Basic Education
Students' Union, Thailand, and the Burmese Students Association. 

''We also urge the international community to increase pressure on the SPDC to
respect human rights and bring democratic change to Burma,'' a joint statement
issued by the four groups said. 

Some 50 dissident students have been staging a sit-in protest in front of the
Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok since Aug. 3. Their demonstration is timed to
coincide with the 10th anniversary of the 1988 student-led uprising in
Myanmar. 

The students told reporters they would continue their demonstration until Aug.
21, the deadline set by Suu Kyi to convene the elected parliament. 

AP-NY-08-13-98 0633EDT