(09/20/88) Gen. Saw Maung's Troops

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Subject: (09/20/88) Gen. Saw Maung's Troops Killed another 200

                              The Associated Press



                     September  20, 1988, Tuesday, AM cycle



HEADLINE:  Saw Maung  Forms New Government, Security Forces Kill 59


 
   Coup leader Gen.  Saw Maung  formed a military-dominated government Tuesday, 
and state radio reported that security forces killed 59 people, primarily
looters of government warehouses. 
   A reporter also heard gunfire in downtown Rangoon late Tuesday, one day after
troops killed more than 100 anti-government demonstrators.

   In all, more than 200 people have been reported killed since  Saw Maung 
seized power Sunday from Maung Maung, Burma's first civlian leader in 26 years. 

   Top opposition leaders issued a statement Tuesday calling for talks with
 Saw Maung  to resolve the country's political and economic crisis and
criticizing the military's bloody crackdown on dissenters.

    Saw Maung,  who took power after weeks of protests against one-party rule,
holds the defense and foreign affairs portfolios in the Law and Order
Restoration Government of nine ministers announced by state-run Radio Rangoon.

   Only one minister was a civilian, Minister of Health Pe Thein.

   At least six of the new ministers were among the 18 senior officers who
mounted the coup with  Saw Maung.  The broadcast also said local military
leaders will serve as top government officials in their areas.

   The broadcast did not name a president or prime minister, and the fate of
Maung Maung was not known. 
    Saw Maung,  a hardliner, is the right-hand man of toppled President Sein
Lwin who was widely hated for brutal suppression of dissent.

    Saw Maung  said the coup was intended to halt the country's social chaos so 
democratic elections could be held. The opposition had demanded an interim
government be named before elections, which had been called by Maung Maung.

   Troops on Monday shot and killed at least 100 people in the capital of
Rangoon who were protesting the coup. Demonstrators and security forces fought
sporadic clashes late into the night.

   State radio reported five separate incidents Tuesday in which security forces
killed 59 people, including looters and civilians who attacked a military
patrol.

   Troops dispersed a crowd of 50 people looting a co-operative warehouse eight 
miles north of downtown Rangoon at 4 a.m., killing eight people, the radio said.
Sixteen people died when troops tried to stop more than 200 people from looting 
a warehouse in the Thamaing campus of Rangoon University.

   Security forces killed 16 people looting the Fisheries Department office in
Rangoon in the early morning, while five people died as troops broke up

looting at a biscuit factory in the northern part of the capital, the radio
said.

   Troops killed another 14 people when a military truck on patrol in east
Rangoon was attacked at noon, it said.

   Witnesses reported a 60th person was shot and killed as soldiers halted
looting at a market in the city. One witness reported an exchange of gunfire in 
downtown Rangoon on Tuesday evening, but details could not be confirmed because 
of the 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew imposed by  Saw Maung. 

   Sporadic clashes were reported in Mandalay in central Burma but no details
were available. Telephone communications were out after the Communications
Department's microwave dish was damaged by a rocket in the morning.

   One opposition leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said street
protests had been called off to avoid further bloodshed.

   Three key opposition leaders issued a statement Tuesday condemning the
military crackdown, saying: "Such suppression by force of arms will not stop the
people's just demand for democracy." 
   The statement was issued by former Brig. Gen. Aung Gyi, former Defense
Minister Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma's late independence
leader. They demanded talks with  Saw Maung  "to seek ways to correctly solve
the current crisis."

   The statement also rebuffed offers from the country's myriad ethnic
insurgents to support the pro-democracy uprising and told authorities to stop
spreading rumors that the rebels had infiltrated the mass demonstrations, which 
have included millions of Buddhist monks, students and striking civil servants. 

   The top Buddhist monks' group also issued a statement Tuesday seeking a
dialogue between demonstrators and the new government.

   State-run radio announced that a deadline for striking workers to return to
their jobs was extended from Sept. 26 to Oct. 3. Most government employees
walked off their jobs Aug. 8 following a call for a nationwide general strike.

   That strike and bloody protests earlier forced a quick end to Sein Lwin's
presidency, which lasted only 16 days until Aug. 12. He had replaced Ne Win, the
strongman who came to power in a 1962 coup. Ne Win quit after mounting unrest
over the country's moribound economy and one-party rule. 
   Some observers believe Ne Win still controls the leadership from behind the
scenes.