Political veterans liaise between M

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Political veterans liaise between Myanmar junta and opposition

       Thu 13 Aug 98 - 09:57 GMT

       YANGON, Aug 13 (AFP) - Three veteran Myanmar political figures are
liaising between the junta and the leading opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) party because the two sides cannot agree on direct talks,
NLD officials said Thursday.

       The three political figires, who could not be immediately identified,
met junta officials on Sunday or Monday after the NLD rejected an invitation
for talks which excluded party secretary general Aung San Suu Kyi and
co-deputy chairman Tin Oo, the officials said.

       The political figures then on Monday or Tuesday met the NLD executive
committee, including Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

       The junta earlier expressed regret the NLD turned down an invitation
for talks. The invitation was addressed to NLD chairman Aung Shwe but
specifically excluded Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, the opposition said.

       The offer for talks -- at a junta building during the anniversary
last Saturday of a bloody 1988 military crackdown was extended to all other
members of the NLD executive committee.

       "Chairman U (honorific) Aung Shwe has been invited to engage (in) a
frank and cordial talk to develop a better understanding, as well as
confidence-building between the two sides," the junta statement said.

       "To the regret of the government, however, the NLD chairman turned
down the invitation." The NLD Friday said it had rejected the offer becasue
it excluded Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo.

       "We are not going to acknowledge the letter because we don't know
what it is all about and we need to know what the letter is all about and to
discuss it among ourselves," the party said in a terse statement.

       The invitation also excluded former NLD executive committee member
Kyi Maung. All three were formally expelled from the party by the junta
after they were jailed or, in Aung San Suu Kyi's case, placed under house
arrest.

       Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest from 1989 to 1995. Tin Oo was
jailed at the same time and Kyi Maung a year later following polls which the
NLD won by a landslide. The junta has refused to relinquish power.

       All three were officially reinstated to the party by junta electoral
officials in 1995 but Kye Maung has since quit the NLD. However, junta
officials have since said they are still formally excluded from the party.

       Aung Shwe declined a previous invitation for talks with the junta,
saying he would not attend without his co-chairman and the secretary
general.

       A key demand of the opposition is that it hold direct talks with the
junta.


)AFP 1998