Tension expected on Burmese anniver

[gawdech@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

The Burmese opposition will tomorrow mark the 10th anniversary of a bloody
military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators amidst mounting tension
that could erupt later this month,according to opposition figures and
foreign diplomats in Ranggon.
 Security has been stepped up ahead of the anniversary and in preparation
for Aug 21, a deadline set by opposition leader Aung san Suu Kyi for the
junta to convene parliament or face unspecified action, residents said.
 The 1988 military crackdown marked the culmination of months of rising
political tension and worsening economic conditions. The opposition claims
several thousand people were killed, while others have put the toll in the
hundreds.
 The junta said it was forced to respond to a terrorist threat to national
security .
 The junta may be worried about its international standing, which has never
recovered but many people in predominantly Buddhist Burma are concerned
about the ghosts of demonstrators killed in 1988, believing the spirits
linger around a downtown Rangoon junction  because of the manner in which
they died.
 "The ghost thing is a factor,"said Aung Naing Oo, Foreign affairs
secretary of the Thailand-based All Burma students Democratic Front
opposition group.
 According to Buddhism, if you believe the soul of the deceased has not
departed the body,or is lingering, they are not free from what was done to
them,"he added.
 "I do not think anything much will be happening tomorrow-perhaps small
sporadic gatherings,religious ceremonies,"Naing Oo said.
              He added that opposition officials were holding talks to
determine what action they should take if,as is  widely expected, the junta
refuses to convene parliament.
 They will do something definitely, but I do not know what.Most probably a
demonstration,"he said.
 A western diplomat in Rangoon added that there was more likelihood of
conflict on or after the Aug 21 opposition deadline for parliament to be
convened.
" We are watching Aug 8,of course,"the diplomat said.
 "But I think Aug 21 is the one to really watch.These people {the
opposition}have been waiting for eight years and they are pretty frustated.
We may well see some sort of demonstration here and in some other cities.
 Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy won 1990 polls by a
landslide but the junta has since refused to relinquish power.
 Another foreign diplomatic sources said they doubted the opposition was
sufficiently organised to mount any major form of protest against the junta
if over the parliament deadline.
 "They are not that well organised,they do not have very good
communications,"the diplomat said."We have heard students are circulating
new anti-government pamphlets, but it seems to be lowscale and is not a
credible threat.The authorities are very much in control." Political
tensions have been steadily heightening in recent weeks and the junta has
accused Suu Kyi of fomenting civil unrest.
 She has been blocked from travelling to meet supporters outside Rangoon
three times in four weeks.The last incident resulted in a six-day roadside
stand-of which ended only when she was forcibly taken back to Rangoon last
Wednesday.   
 That move was condemned by the United States and other nations expressed
concern at deteriorating conditions in Burma.
 The NLD chief has pledged to again defy the junta and seek to visit
suppoters outside the capital.
 "I shall continue to go out of Rangoon again and again 
as soon as I recover until these conditions are met,"
suu Kyi was quoted as saying by a spokesman.
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       Peaceful protesters dispersed
       (Bangkok Post, Aug 7,1998)
 Some 40 people took part in an anti-government protest in a southeastern
Burmese town,but dispersed peacefully
and without military intervention,the country's junta said yesterday.
 The crowd marched to a nunber of schools in the town of Mergue on Tuesday
in an attempt to draw support for their protest,a junta spokesman told
AFP,in an account partially verified by opposition sources.
"The schools in the township ignored them and after about an hour later
they dispersed peacefully and dispointedly,"he said in a statement, adding
most of the demonstrators were not students. 
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