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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.