SLORC's USDA THREATENS AUNG SAN SUU

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: SLORC's USDA THREATENS AUNG SAN SUU KYI


                         Sunday, May 4, 1997 11:28 am EDT 

                         BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Members of a
military-sponsored
                         mass organization that participated in a mob attack
on Burmese
                         democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade last
year vowed
                         this weekend to punish the Nobel Peace Prize winner. 

                         More than 30,000 members of the Union Solidarity and
                         Development Association condemned Suu Kyi and the
United
                         States at a mass rally Saturday at the Thuwanna
Sports Stadium in
                         eastern Rangoon, state-run newspapers reported Sunday. 

                         Naming Suu Kyi and her aides, a Union official, Kyi
Kyi Htway,
                         said in a speech to the crowd that ``external and
internal
                         destructionists will be punished.'' 

                         In November 1996, a mob of Union members who said
they had
                         been paid by the government attacked Suu Kyi's
motorcade,
                         smashing car windows with sticks and crowbars and
slightly
                         injuring one of her aides. 

                         After the attack, Suu Kyi compared the organization
to the Hitler
                         Youth of Germany and the fascist brown shirts of
Italy. 

                         Suu Kyi and her followers ``who are unpatriotic and
bent on
                         subverting the economy by urging other nations to
clamp sanctions
                         on (Burma) and inviting hegemonic bully politics of
the United
                         States should be driven out of the country,'' Kyi
Kyi Htway said. 

                         President Clinton invoked economic sanctions
against Burma on
                         April 22 because of stepped up repression against
the democracy
                         movement. 

                         The country's military leaders publicly brushed off
the sanctions,
                         saying they would hurt American companies more than
Burma. 

                         Since Clinton's move, however, invective against
Suu Kyi for
                         allegedly sabotaging Burma's economy has increased
in the
                         state-run press and in speeches by Union officials. 

                         Suu Kyi, whose movements and activities have been
severely
                         restricted by the military since last September,
had been calling for
                         sanctions for many months. 

                         Aides to Suu Kyi have expressed fears recently that
the military
                         may be planning to assassinate her, citing comments
by a
                         government minister calling for someone to kill
her, and
                         paramilitary training exercises by Union members on
an island
                         within sight of Suu Kyi's lakeside home. 

                         Military leaders have repeatedly threatened to
``annihilate'' her. 

                         The patron of the Union, which now has about 6
million members,
                         is Gen. Than Shwe, who heads Burma's military
government. 

                         Founded in 1993, it represents ``a significant
effort by the military
                         to mobilize society toward its own end,'' similar
to Indonesia's
                         ruling Golkar party, David Steinberg, a noted
author on Asian
                         affairs, wrote in a recent article in Burma Debate
magazine. 

                         Steinberg said many people join because they are
frequently
                         coerced, but membership is also helpful in
obtaining jobs and
                         promotions. 

                         ``In a sense, membership is a kind of tax or corvee
labor charge
                         on someone's time and energies,'' he wrote. 

                         Union members who attended a mass rally in Rangoon
in May
                         1996, told The Associated Press they were required
to attend or
                         pay fines. The AP was barred from entering the rally. 

                         Footage of the rally on state-run television showed
members with
                         dour expressions listlessly raising their fists and
chanting ``oppose
                         internal and external destructionists, foreign
stooges and enemies
                         of the state.''