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NEWS - Myanmar Readies Jail for Suu
Myanmar Readies Jail for Suu Kyi, Says Opposition
Reuters
02-JUL-98
By Sutin Wannabovorn
BANGKOK, July 2 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military is
preparing a special cell in its notorious Insein prison
for opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Suu Kyi, days after threatening to take
legal action against her, opposition sources said on
Thursday.
But Yangon-based diplomats said the threat of legal
action may be mere psychological warfare, with
neither the junta nor the opposition really intending
to step over established battle lines.
``According to informed sources from Insein Prison
in Rangoon (Yangon), a special detached house
located in the women's section of the prison was
being renovated last week, believed to be for
Burma's pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi,'' the exiled All Burma Students' Democratic
Front said in a statement.
Military spokesmen were not immediately available
to comment.
Insein was the prison where scores of
pro-democracy protesters were tortured and killed
by the military after it seized power in a bloody coup
in September 1988.
The renovation started immediately after Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) party sent a
letter to the ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) demanding that the junta convene a
parliament by August 2 in accordance with the
results of aborted 1990 elections.
The NLD swept the election, but its victory was
never recognised by the military.
The two sides have since been at political
loggerheads, with the opposition accusing the
military of abusing human rights and curbing its
activities.
For the first time since the May 1990 election, the
military allowed the NLD to hold a gathering on May
27 in Suu Kyi's Yangon home to mark the eighth
anniversary of the polls victory. Analysts believed
then that this pointed to a warming of ties between
the two sides.
But at the gathering, Suu Kyi launched a fresh
political offensive and demanded that parliament be
convened.
The military government bluntly rejected the NLD
demand, saying that the convening of parliament
was impossible until the National Convention of
delegates, hand-picked by the military for the
purpose, had drafted a new constitution for the
country.
It also accused Suu Kyi of obstructing the
convention's work.
``The Myanmar government and its people can no
longer tolerate the acts of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
who ignores the interest of the nation and people,''
the government warned in commentaries run in all
three state-run Myanmar newspapers.
They said that those who obstructed the
convention's functions faced five to 20 years jail.
State media also ran similar warnings in 1989
shortly before Suu Kyi was placed under six years
of house arrest.
``The government made similar threats to her prior
to her house arrest in 1989, but things have
changed now. There are other factors now,
especially pressure from Japan, which has barred
SPDC from taking action against her,'' a
Yangon-based diplomat said.
The Japanese government recently threatened to
withdraw financial support for the SPDC if it
continued to delay completion of the new charter,
the diplomat added.
The military established the National Convention in
early 1993 and claims that two thirds of the new
charter has been completed, but has set no time
frame for its completion. The convention has also
not met for some time now.
``I think this fresh threat may be merely
psychological warfare where both parties pay lip
service but no action is taken,'' the diplomat said.
Another diplomatic source also said some tension
between the junta and the NLD was building up in
Yangon, but the chances of the SPDC taking action
against Suu Kyi may be slim.