Suu Kyi's van moved to

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Suu Kyi's van moved to bridge; party says governmentresponsible

                             The Associated Press
                           08/13/98 6:14 AM Eastern

              YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
party expressed fear for her safety after her van was moved to a weak wooden
bridge today, the second day of herlatest roadside standoff with the military
government.

              Suu Kyi's party urged the government to allow her to proceed
to the western city of Bassein to meet supporters. She started the journey
there Wednesday but was stopped at a checkpoint about 19 miles west of the
capital, Yangon.

              "It is the responsibility of the government if the bridge
breaks under the heavy weight of the van," the National League for Democracy
said in a statement.

              The van was presumably moved to clear traffic, which was
backed up for miles Wednesday. The bridge, built for ox carts,held Suu Kyi's
smaller car during her six-day standoff at the same checkpoint two weeks ago.
She took a van this time to hold more food and water.

              A government spokesman said in a faxed statement to The
Associated Press in Bangkok, Thailand, that Suu Kyi had not spoken to anyone
and that all the windows were rolled up.

              "A medical team is on standby should she need one and an
appropriate number of security personnel has been provided in case she and her
companions choose to stay by the roadside,"it said.

              The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, said it would be
"unsafe" to let her travel farther.

              Suu Kyi, however, appeared ready for a long confrontation to
press the government to meet an Aug. 21 deadline she has set for a parliament
elected in 1990 to be convened.

              Her party overwhelmingly won the election, but the military,
which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, never allowed the parliament to meet.

              Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is severely
restricted in her movements and political activities. Recently, she has been
staging confrontations with the government by trying to meet supporters
outside the capital.

              The last standoff drew international condemnation of the
government. International pressure is one of the few tools at Suu
Kyi's disposal to try to force change.

              Official newspapers criticized Suu Kyi, daughter of independence
hero Aung San, as a tool of powerful countries.

              The authorities ended last month's showdown by seizing Suu
Kyi's car and driving her back to her home in Yangon.

              Meanwhile, the military regime in Myanmar gathered 18 detained
foreign democracy activists in a police station today and allowed new visits
by diplomats as pressure mounted for their quick release.

              The detainees were passing out leaflets that the government
said were intended to incite unrest last Saturday on the 10th anniversary of a
failed uprising against military rule. They include six Americans, three
Indonesians, three Malaysians, three Thais, two Filipinos and an Australian.

              Rep. Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican who has a
constituent among the detainees, was on his way to the region.



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