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Manila says Myanmar junta talking t



Manila says Myanmar junta talking to opponents

By Ruben Alabastro 

MANILA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Philippine President Fidel Ramos said on Wednesday
Myanmar's (Burma's) ruling military junta was holding low-level meetings with
the opposition which could lead to talks between leaders of the two sides. 

``What we are seeing now is the dialogues are taking place at lower levels
building up to the very top of the leadership,'' he told reporters after a
round of golf with visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Than Shwe. 

``I think these are very good developments,'' Ramos added, but he gave no
details. 

There have been no reports recently of any meeting between Myanmar's ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the main opposition National
League for Democracy (NLD). It was not clear what talks Ramos was referring
to. 

Yangon's military rulers late last year invited the NLD for talks but refused
to allow opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to participate.
NLD rejected the offer. 

Ramos and Than Shwe, who is chairman of the SPDC, have met three times since
the Myanmar leader arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit but no details
have been released on what they discussed. 

Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said on Tuesday Manila would try
to encourage Myanmar to pursue national reconciliation. 

Than Shwe's visit coincided with reports from Yangon that the military rulers
had jailed four opposition members, including a parliamentarian, in two
townships. 

Manila has privately expressed concern about arrests of opposition members in
Myanmar, saying such incidents could strain the relations of the Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) with other countries. 

ASEAN accepted Myanmar as a member last year, against opposition from the
United States and the European Union. 

A handful of demonstrators unfurled banners condemning human rights violations
in Myanmar when Than Shwe on Wednesday laid a wreath at the monument to
Philippine freedom hero Jose Rizal. 

Police seized the streamers and shooed away the protesters.