Myanmar Detains Foreigners After Pr

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar detains foreigners after protest

By Chris Johnson
BANGKOK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Eighteen foreign activists were detained at Yangon
airport on Sunday after handing out leaflets calling on the people of Myanmar
to remember a massacre of opposition supporters 10 years ago, witnesses said. 

Thousands of red leaflets in Burmese and English were distributed earlier on
Sunday at eight points in the capital, including the landmark Shwedagon
Pagoda, whose massive golden spire dominates the city, witnesses said. 

Most of those detained were Asian but they were believed to include a small
number of western activists. 

Witnesses said those detained were taken to an unknown destination. It was
unclear how long the activists were held or whether they were later released. 

Pro-democracy supporters handing out the leaflets said they were from by the
Alternative ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Network, an
umbrella body of groups supporting Myanmar's democracy movement from
neighbouring Asian countries. 

Neither officials at the network's headquarters in Bangkok nor government
spokesmen were available for immediate comment. 

The leaflets referred to 8888 -- August 8, 1988 -- which was the start of an
uprising of pro-democracy activists calling for democracy and the ending of
rule by the military. 

Soldiers opened fire on a demonstration on the steps of Yangon city hall on
that day, killing many civilians. 

Opposition supporters say thousands of people were killed in the unrest that
followed the uprising. The military government says the death toll was only a
few dozen. 

``We are your friends from around the world. We have not forgotten you. We
support your hopes for human rights and democracy,'' said the leaflets. 

``8888 -- Don't forget -- Don't give up,'' they added. 

Activists said they distributed around 10,000 leaflets throughout Yangon on
Sunday, witnesses said. 

The military renewed its attacks on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on
Sunday, with commentaries in two newspapers. 

In an apparent reference to a television interview with Suu Kyi last week, the
Myanma Ahlin and Kyemon newspapers warned the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner
not to destabilise the country. 

``The ``Democracy Princess'' is almost sure to face the 'Four Desires of the
People' which have been deeply rooted among the hearts of the entire Myanmar
people no matter how she is trying to deceive by making appeals to the
people,'' they said. 

The Four Desires of the People is a government slogan calling for opposition
to external forces, traitors, foreign interference and ``internal destructive
elements.'' 

Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar's national hero and founding father Aung San,
said last week she would not be intimidated by the military and promised to
bring democracy to Burma. 

Tension between Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and the military
has risen in recent weeks ahead of a deadline by the NLD for the government to
convene a parliament by August 21 of members elected at polls in May 1990. 

The NLD won that election by a big margin but the result was ignored by the
military. 

Saturday's anniversary of the 1988 crackdown passed off peacefully with
residents reporting Yangon quieter than normal as many people stayed off the
streets for fear of trouble. 

In a separate development on Sunday, the official Myanmar News Agency said
foreign pro-democracy activist James Mawdsley had been released from prison
and deported on August 6. 

Mawdsley, who holds British and Australian passports, was arrested in
September 1997 after chaining himself to a fence in central Yangon and
shouting anti-government slogans. 

He was sentenced in May to five years in jail and fined for entering the
country illegally. 

07:40 08-09-98