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Veteran Burmese politicians call fo



Subject: Veteran Burmese politicians call for dialogue 



 Veteran Burmese politicians call for dialogue 
 06:47 a.m. Aug 07, 1997 Eastern 

 RANGOON, Aug 7 (Reuter) - A group of veteran Burmese
 politicians has written to the military government urging it to hold a
 dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi's democracy party. 

 The letter, dated August 5 and received by Reuters on Thursday,
 said a dialogue between leaders of the State Law and Order
 Restoration Council (SLORC) and Suu Kyi's National League for
 Democracy (NLD) party was the only hope for the nation which it
 said was mired in an economic and political crisis. 

 The letter was signed by 23 politicians, including former colleagues of
 Suu Kyi's father, national hero General Aung San. 

 ``We humbly appeal to the SLORC and representatives of the NLD
 which include Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to meet and discuss how to
 get over the crisis of the country for the benefit of the entire nation,''
 the three-page letter said. 

 Suu Kyi has made repeated unanswered requests for dialogue with
 the SLORC since she was released from six years of house arrest in
 July, 1995. 

 Last month an unprecedented meeting took place between military
 intelligence leader Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt and NLD
 chairman Aung Shwe. 

 Although the NLD said it was not dialogue without Suu Kyi's
 involvement, a government official said it was an important step for
 both sides. 

 The letter, a copy of which was sent to the NLD, urged the
 government to unite with the opposition to solve the nation's
 problems. 

 ``We honestly think the problems Myanmar (Burma) is currently
 facing are not of a single person nor a single organisation. It has
 become a national crisis concerning all people,'' it said. 

 ``It is high time for all people to together solve the national crisis,''
 said the letter which detailed the political, social and economic
 situation in Burma. 

 The letter was signed by Bohmu Aung on behalf of the veteran
 politicians -- most of whom took part in the nation's struggle for
 independence. 

 Bohmu Aung was a member of the Thirty Comrades, a group of
 young nationalists smuggled out of then British-ruled Burma in the
 1940s and trained in Japanese-occupied China to fight for Burma's
 independence. 

 The Thirty Comrades, who included Suu Kyi's father who negotiated
 independence from Britain in the aftermath of World War Two, are
 modern Burma's national heroes. 

 The group wrote a similar letter in November 1995, but it was never
 heeded by the government. ^REUTER@