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AFP-Myanmar junta gives cakes to op



Myanmar junta gives cakes to opposition leader in roadside standoff
Sun 16 Aug 98 - 05:53 GMT 

BANGKOK, Aug 16 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta Sunday gave cakes to opposition
leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to help her "pass the time" on
the fifth day of her roadside standoff with security forces outside Yangon.

Diplomats in the Myanmar capital said the National League for Democracy
(NLD) leader was still in her van near a bridge just 25 kilometres (15
miles) outside Yangon after being blocked from visiting provincial
supporters on Wednesday last week.

They said the van, also carrying two drivers and an NLD official, had been
towed Saturday to the bridge where she spent six days in a similar
confrontation last month.

"As far as I know she's in good health and she's in the same position," one
diplomat told AFP.

Although the standoff is widely interpreted as a protest against the
military regime's restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi's movements, a junta
spokesman on Sunday said the opposition leader was in a "camping vehicle"
and was "visiting Anyarsu, a small but picturesque village outside Yangon."

"Ms Suu Kyi left Yangon on August 12 on her way to the city of Pathein, but
regrettably, recent threats of violence have made travel there by prominent
persons inadvisable at this time," the junta spokesman said in a statement
received here.

"Until safety conditions improve, Ms Suu Kyi is visiting Anyarsu, a small
but picturesque village outside Yangon, while the government of Myanmar
continues to make every effort to ensure their comfort and safety."

The junta earlier said it had supplied musical cassettes including
religious songs and recordings by Madonna and Michael Jackson for Aung San
Suu Kyi's enjoyment, as well as an ambulance in case of an emergency.

"In addition to the amenities and entertainment provided by the government
to Ms Suu Kyi in helping her pass the time comfortably, government
officials provided imported cakes, cookies and soft drinks this morning,"
the statement said.

"(It) is also in the process of setting up a mobile bathroom near her
camping vehicle to ensure her maximum comfort and welfare."

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Friday the confrontation with
Aung San Suu Kyi had reached its "moment of truth" and the international
community needed to step up pressure on the junta.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is again asserting her basic right to move freely in her
country," Albright said in Washington.

The NLD won 1990 elections with a vast majority but the junta has refused
to give up power.