BURMA DEMOCRATIC PARTY STILL EXISTS

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Burma Democratic Party Still Exists 
By Robert Horn 
Associated Press Writer 
Monday, September 8, 1997; 2:46 p.m. EDT 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The leader of a movement to bring democracy to 
Burma says her political party is neither dead nor dormant despite a 
crackdown by the military government. 

In a rare videotaped interview smuggled out of Burma and seen in Bangkok 
on Monday, Aung San Suu Kyi also said she believes her movement has 
substantial support within the armed forces. 

The regime no longer allows journalists to meet with the 1991 Nobel 
Peace Prize winner and has severely restricted her movements while 
stepping up its actions against her party since last October. 

She said arrests of her party's members, and forced resignation of its 
members of Parliament, are proof the party is active despite attempts by 
the State Law and Order Restoration Council -- known as SLORC -- to 
crush it. 

``We are not a dormant party. That is why we are being harassed by 
SLORC. If we were dead and done for SLORC wouldn't bother to arrest 
anybody,'' Suu Kyi said. 

Suu Kyi held out hope that a compromise will be worked out with the 
government. During the 1990 elections her party, the National League for 
Democracy, scored victories in districts heavily populated by army 
personnel, she said. 

``I believe we have strong support within the army,'' she said. 

Suu Kyi played down a meeting last month between Gen. Khin Nyunt, the 
head of military intelligence, and her party's chairman, Aung Shwe. It 
was the first meeting between a SLORC general and an official of her 
party in years. 

``At best we could think of it as a sounding out to see whether dialogue 
is possible,'' Suu Kyi said. 

Suu Kyi said Burma's deteriorating economy and the regime's criticism 
helped her movement gain sympathy. 

Even though the regime shrugged off economic sanctions imposed by 
President Clinton, Suu Kyi said the military is very concerned about 
relations with the United States. 

``Otherwise they wouldn't waste so much energy attacking them,'' she 
said.