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AP news_17.10.96: NLD in the blocka
Subject: AP news_17.10.96: NLD in the blockades
ASIA: BURMESE OPPOSITION MEETS DESPITE BLOCKADES
BURMA
RANGOON, Oct 17 Reuter - Members of Burmese opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party are
meeting this week despite blockades set up by the military
government, an NLD source said today.
He said Suu Kyi and other top NLD officials have been meeting
groups of elected party representatives and senior party members to
define policy.
"We tried in vain to hold a party congress twice," the NLD
source said. He said gatherings of several dozen NLD members
planned for Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week were meant to
be a substitute for a larger party congress.
The meetings were held at the homes of senior NLD officials
since Suu Kyi's house -- the normal venue for gatherings -- was
inaccessible because of the barriers.
The military set up roadblocks on streets leading to her house
on Saturday to prevent her regular weekend speeches to supporters
and has still not removed them.
Last month the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) thwarted plans to hold a NLD party congress.
The military government said the planned September 27-29
congress was aimed at creating unrest. It arrested at least 573 NLD
activists and blocked roads leading to Suu Kyi's house, where the
meeting was due to have been held. The detained people have since
been released in stages.
It was the second time the SLORC had prevented the NLD from
holding a congress. The first was in May, when the SLORC arrested
more than 260 NLD activists to prevent the meeting.
The NLD held a meeting of party representatives and vowed to
increase its efforts to bring democracy to Burma. Since the meeting
was not made up of elected NLD representatives, no major policy
decisions were taken.
The NLD source, who was at one of this week's meetings, said
people attending included many politicians elected as NLD
representatives in the 1990 election, won overwhelmingly by the NLD
but never recognised by the SLORC.
He said the politicians discussed reorganisation of the NLD,
which has been suffering over the past year in the face of
increased intimidation by the SLORC.
NLD members at the gatherings agreed to allow party members who
had resigned from the NLD for various reasons to rejoin.
After the May government crackdown, many NLD representatives who
had been detained announced when they were freed that they were
resigning from the party. Suu Kyi said many of them had been forced
to resign by the SLORC.
The meetings this week also granted the NLD's executive
committee the authority to do whatever wasnecessary to achieve
democracy. Suu Kyi told reporters earlier this month the NLD had
requested talks with the SLORC, but got a negative response.
REUTER ts
ASIA: REGIME PUTS UP BARRICADES AT SUU KYI'S HOUSE
BURMA SUUKYI
RANGOON, Oct 19 AP - Barricades blocked streets to the home of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi today for the fourth straight
weekend - a move the military said was aimed at preventing unrest.
The blockade appeared likely to again stop gatherings today and
tomorrow outside Suu Kyi's home on University Avenue, where she
usually addresses thousands of supporters on the need for democracy
in Burma.
Before they were stopped, the weekend rallies were virtually the
only public dissent allowed by the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council, or SLORC.
The authorities have given no indication when they might resume.
Official newspapers, which reflect the views of the government,
said today the roadblocks first went up to prevent a three-day
congress of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy scheduled to
begin on September 27.
The barricades remained in place for 11 days. Authorities
temporarily detained at least 573 of her supporters, whom the
regime describes as "ax-handles" used by Western powers to
subjugate Burma.
The barriers briefly came down but went back up on October 11 to
prevent Suu Kyi, the 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, from
again trying to hold the meeting.
"In an attempt to revive the abortive congress, the ax-handles
are planning to incite unrest by taking advantage of the crowd
which gathers in front of the house on Saturdays and Sundays,"
commentary in state-run newspapers said.
The author, who used the pseudonym "Courage", said 27 people who
refused to disperse at the barricades last weekend were arrested,
questioned and released "at places far away from the restricted
area".
Suu Kyi briefly left her home last week to meet leaders of her
National League for Democracy at a colleague's house.
They agreed to renew efforts to open a dialogue with the regime.
All previous such requests have been ignored.
Newspapers in Bangkok, Thailand, meanwhile reported that the
seven-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations would delay
Burma's full membership on technical grounds, a diplomatic blow to
the regime's hopes for accelerated membership.
Pilloried by the West for human-rights violations, the regime
has sought to join ASEAN as quickly as possible, seeking diplomatic
protection and a trading partner.
ASEAN has generally refused to criticise what it sees as Burma's
internal affairs.
The decision to delay Burma's membership took place yesterday at
a meeting of senior ASEAN officials meeting in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Malaysia and Indonesia recently expressed support to bring in
Burma as a full member next year.
But the Philippines broke ranks after the recent crackdown and
the decision reached yesterday signals dissension in ASEAN's ranks
over Burma.
The Nation newspaper in Bangkok quoted one ASEAN delegate as
saying that the agreement to slow Burma's candidacy was "a
political decision based on technical considerations".
ASEAN comprises Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.
Cambodia and Laos, like Burma, are observers aspiring to full
membership.
AP br