BBC-Doctor's visit requested for Su

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Monday, August 17, 1998 Published at 21:02 GMT 22:02 UK 

Doctor's visit requested for Suu Kyi 


The Burmese opposition party, the National League for Democracy, has asked
permission for party leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be visited by her personal
doctor. 

Ms Suu Kyi has spent six days in a van parked at a roadblock in protest at
restrictions which she says the Burmese military government has placed on
her. 

The government says it stopped her at the roadblock because her journey was
unsafe. 

Halted 

The NLD leader and Nobel peace laureate was trying to visit party
colleauges when she was halted south-west of Rangoon, the Burmese capital. 

There is no independent information on Ms Suu Kyi's condition. 

The authorities say they have provided her with fruit, cakes and drinks. 

'Camping trip' 

According to one report, diplomats say the government is trying to belittle
Ms Suu Kyi's protest by making it look like a camping trip. 

"Ms Suu Kyi, U Hla Pe and their two chauffeurs are continuing taking rest
in a camping vehicle near Anyarsu, a small but picturesque village outside
Yangon," the government is reported to have said in a statement on Monday. 

But the statement also described the NLD as "the number one enemy" of the
Burmese people. 

Last month, a similar sit-in ended on its sixth day when the authorities
seized Ms Suu Kyi's car and drove her back to the capital. She was
suffering severe dehydration. 

International leaders have condemned the authorities for stopping the Ms
Suu Kyi's journey, and the opposition leader vowed afterwards that she
would continue to defy the Burmese Government.