Burma opposition braces for key par

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Subject: Burma opposition braces for key party gathering 

Burma opposition braces for key party gathering 
 03:42 a.m. May 25, 1997 Eastern 

 BANGKOK, May 25 (Reuter) - Burma's opposition, led by Aung
 San Suu Kyi, said on Sunday it would go ahead with a party meeting
 this week despite the detention of 192 members by the ruling
 military. 

 ``We are all waiting to see what happens tonight and tomorrow to
 see if the authorities will stop the planned party meeting in Aung San
 Suu Kyi's (house) compound,'' a senior leader of the opposition
 National League for Democracy (NLD) told Reuters. 

 ``So far there have been no new detentions that we heard of in
 addition to the 192 we know of,'' he said in Rangoon. 

 The party gathering set for May 27-28 is planned to coincide with
 the seventh anniversary of the NLD's landslide 1990 election victory
 which the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
 never recognised. 

 The NLD has had few opportunities to gather in a large group since
 it won the 1990 election as the military has thwarted previous
 attempts. 

 The SLORC has denied that it detained any NLD members and
 labelled the party's claim a fabrication. It has also asked the NLD to
 prove the detentions. 

 A government spokesman said last week, however, that some NLD
 members had been requested by local authorities to refrain from
 acting in such a way as to create chaos in the country. 

 The NLD claimed that those detained were either restricted to their
 homes or confined at specific places. 

 Despite the detentions, other senior NLD members who managed to
 reach the party headquarters in Rangoon had discussed its political,
 economic, legal and justice reports as planned ahead of a general
 meeting set for May 27-28, the senior NLD official said. 

 Aung San Suu Kyi was not available for comment. 

 The NLD official said that security around Suu Kyi's lakeside
 residence at University Avenue was tight but some party members
 were able to visit her after stringent checks. 

 ``So far they have not detained any Rangoon township NLD
 members but we don't know if this is a sign that they may allow the
 party congress to go on,'' he added. 

 NLD officials said that even if the planned meeting was stopped by
 the authorities on Tuesday, senior party members who had not been
 detained by the authorities had met in the capital late last week had
 already agreed on various strategies. 

 ``We predicted this situation a bit earlier and therefore managed to
 hold discussions in advance on some papers intended to be read at
 the formal (May 27) meeting,'' said a Rangoon division NLD
 member of parliament. 

 The United States, Japan and some European nations have
 condemned the latest detentions and called on the SLORC to
 immediately and unconditionally free those NLD members held. 

 Last year, 261 party members, mostly MPs, were arrested ahead of
 a similar gathering. But the meeting took place anyway and Suu Kyi
 announced the NLD planned to continue its efforts to bring
 democracy to Burma despite the crackdowns. 

 Although the SLORC released most of the NLD members it arrested
 last May, some were charged and given long jail terms. Others,
 mainly MPs, were forced to sign papers saying they would resign
 from the party. ^REUTER@