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Myanmar rebel group says political



Myanmar rebel group says political scene explosive 
06:58 a.m. Jul 06, 1998 Eastern 

YANGON, July 6 (Reuters) - A Myanmar rebel group said on Monday that new
curbs on elected members of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD) could be politically explosive. 

``The present state of the country is quite disturbing. There is a
likelihood of it exploding soon,'' said General Bo Mya, the president of
the ethnic Karen National Union (KNU), in a statement obtained by Reuters. 

He also said there were only three months worth of food stocks left in the
country. 

``There is an impending danger of the country sliding into serious shortage
of food and general calamity unparalleled in history. We have learnt there
is not enough stock of food even for three months,'' he said. He did not
elaborate. 

The KNU is fighting Yangon for autonomy for the Karen state and is the most
formidable of a handful of ethnic groups conducting guerrilla warfare
against Myanmar. 

Bo Mya was referring to stepped up military vigilance of NLD MPs elected in
the 1990 polls. The NLD swept the elections, but the result was ignored by
the military. 

The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on Sunday confirmed
that it had ordered elected NLD politicians outside the capital of Yangon
to report to local authorities. 

The SPDC said the order was necessary to prevent the party from disrupting
reopening of universities closed following student unrest in December 1996.


A government source said that the closed universities and other educational
institutions were due to reopen in August. 

The NLD protested against the latest military curbs and demanded that they
be lifted immediately and unconditionally. 

``The SPDC has applied outdated laws to impose restrictions on NLD
members...as the people representatives who were elected by people from the
May 1990 election. NLD demands the military junta immediately and
unconditionally lift the recent restrictions,'' the party said in a
statement. 

The latest political rift between the NLD and the military follows a new
demand by the party that the SPDC convene parliament by August 21
comprising MPs elected in the 1990 polls. 

The NLD has accused the military of abusing human rights and curbing its
political activities. 

The KNU's General Bo Mya said in an open letter to SPDC chairman, Senior
General Than Shwe, that the junta should comply with the NLD's demand. 

``We are calling on the SPDC to comply with the demand of the NLD for
convening of parliament,'' he said, adding the situation in Myanmar was
delicate because of the current political feuds. 

The SPDC has in the past rejected the NLD's demand for reconvening of
parliament and said that such calls obstructed the work of the authorities
in drafting a new national constitution via a government-appointed National
Convention. 

The NLD withdrew from the convention in 1995, calling it a sham, and the
body has not met for nearly two years. 

The SPDC also threatened to take legal action against those who disrupted
the drafting of the new charter in a veiled warning to Suu Kyi and her
party. 

A similar threat was issued in 1989 prior to Suu Kyi's six years of house
arrest. 

Suu Kyi, 53, the 1993 Nobel Peace prize winner, has repeatedly demanded
dialogue with the military since being released from house arrest.