Reuters : Foreign activists still h

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Foreign activists still held in Yangon -diplomats 
01:46 a.m. Aug 10, 1998 Eastern 

By Sutin Wannabavorn 

BANGKOK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Eighteen foreign activists were still being
detained by authorities in Yangon on Monday after handing out leaflets
calling on the people of Myanmar to remember a massacre of opposition
supporters, diplomats said. 

Police seized six Americans, an Australian as well as Thais, Malaysians,
Indonesians and Philippine citizens in Yangon on Sunday after a group of
pro-democracy supporters distributed thousands of leaflets at eight points
throughout the capital. 

The small red palm-sized 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 military rule which resulted in the killing of
many civilians. 

Officials at the Australian and Thai embassies in Yangon said they had no
word from the Myanmar military government on whether their nationals would
be deported or charged. 

``We have had no consular access as yet,'' said one Australian diplomat.
``The gut feeling is that they probably will be deported.'' 

But an Asian diplomat said he would be surprised if Myanmar released the
activists without some sort of punishment. 

``I think they will get at least a year's jail,'' he said. 

A spokesman for an exile students organisation in Bangkok said he had heard
the activists would be deported and put on a flight to Bangkok on Monday.
The report could not be confirmed by diplomats or other sources in Yangon. 

The Myanmar government said it would issue a statement on the activists
later on Monday but would make no other comment. 

On Sunday, the government said the activists had been ``attempting to
incite unrest.'' It was holding them while investigations continued. 

Some of the activists handing out the leaflets said they were from the
Alternative ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Network of
Burma (Altsean-Burma), a group supporting Myanmar's democracy movement in
Asian countries. 

Altsean-Burma issued a statement in Bangkok on Monday giving the names of
those detained. It said the list included lawyers, academics, business
people and students. 

``We are shocked to learn of the detentions. We condemn the action and urge
the Myanmar government to release those detained immediately,'' Somsri
Hananantasuk, the representative of human rights group Amnesty
International in Thailand, told a news conference in Bangkok. 

Altsean-Burma said the activists had gone to Myanmar to commemorate
Saturday's anniversary with a ``goodwill message.'' 

Soldiers opened fire on a demonstration on the steps of Yangon city hall on
August 8, 1988 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. 

Activists said they distributed around 10,000 leaflets throughout Yangon
with the message ``8888 -- Don't forget -- Don't give up.'' 

Tension between the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung
San Suu Kyi, and the military has risen 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 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. 

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