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AFP-Aung San Suu Kyi maintains stan (r)



Aung San Suu Kyi maintains stand-off on day of reckoning with junta
Fri 21 Aug 98 - 04:28 GMT 

YANGON, Aug 21 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
sitting on a rural bridge for a tenth consecutive day Friday as the
country's junta ignored her protest and a deadline for convening the
national parliament elected in 1990, foreign diplomats said.

The capital remained calm with no increased security presence other than
extra traffic police outside schools where university exams are being
staged for the first time since campuses were closed following unrest in
December 1996.

"They don't want to give anyone any reason to complain, about traffic jams
about anything," a resident said.

Foreign diplomats have warned the Nobel peace laureate's Friday deadline
for the junta to convene parliament or face unspecified consequences could
spark unrest.

But local analysts in Yangon said the situation had been defused by a
meeting Tuesday between the chairman of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy (NLD), Aung Shwe, and junta intelligence chief Lieutenant
General Khin Nyunt, widely seen as number two in the military heirarchy.

Details of the one hour meeting have not been revealed by either side but
the junta in a statement said it would be the first in a series of talks.

"That has really taken the pressure off," said a local analyst, who
declined to be named.

"We have talked about it and the consensus is that August 21 is no longer
important."

Exiled Myanmar opposition groups, however, have called for a campaign of
mass civil disobedience if the parliament is not convened Friday and the
diplomats said the NLD was no longer the sole player in the ultimatum it
issued.

"The NLD might decide to do nothing if it is happy with the way things are
going," one foreign diplmat said.

"But they must realise their credibility is at stake. You can't just issue
ultimatums then walk away if they are ignored.

"The other groups know this too and perhaps they are more militant. They
certainly aren't obligated to the NLD and they could take some action of
their own."

The NLD-led opposition won the 1990 polls by a landslide but the junta has
refused to relinquish power.

Yangon markets have been abuzz with rumours that unrest will erupt if the
junta fails to convene parliament. There have also been widespread rumours
of the impending release of key political prisoners following the Tuesday
talks.

Truckloads of troops have been deployed late at night at strategic
locations this week in what residents said was an apparent bid to
discourage any form of protest.

Aung San Suu Kyi was Friday spending her tenth day in a minibus parked on a
small bridge 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Yangon after being blocked from
travelling to meet provincial supporters.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, a UN human rights body Thursday urged the Myanmar
government to ensure the security of Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the
NLD.

A resolution on human rights activists adopted by a UN subcommission
requests Myanmar authorities to "in particular guarantee her freedom of
movement and expression."

The resolution, backed by 21 of the subcommission's 24 experts in a secret
ballot, also urges the government to allow the UN special rapporteur on
human rights in Myamar to visit the country.

In Bangkok, some 30 exiled Myanmar students maintained their vigil outside
the Myanmar embassy to support the call for parliament to be convened in
Myanmar, where the kyat currency has hit new lows amid the rising political
tensions.

The kyat was trading around 380 to the dollar in Yangon's black market
Friday, against 150 to the dollar before Asia became embroiled in an
economic crisis last July and an official rate of six kyat to the dollar.