Bangkok Post News (28/8/98)

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News Headlines;


1):39 passengers die in Burma air crash

2):NLD warned of possible dissolution



1<bigger>):39 passengers die in Burma air crash

</bigger>

A Fokker F-27 plane has crashed into a mountain in Laos, said Burma's
military rulers yesterday, and Kyodo news agency reported that all 39
people on board had perished.

Thirty-six bodies had so far been recovered, said Kyodo, quoting sources
in the Burmese and Lao embassies here.

	Earlier a statement from the Burmese junta received here said that
"government officials from Laos informed the Myanmar government that a
F-27 aircraft crashed north of Laos on the Payakha mountain.,"

	On Tuesday, Air Myanmar officials in Rangoon said the missing plane had
made an emergency landing in Laos and everyone on board was safe.


<bigger>NLD warned of possible dissolution

</bigger>

<italic>Rangoon ambassador decries 'illegalities'

</italic>

Burmese Ambassador to Thailand Hla Maung yesterday said his government
was prepared to dissolve the main opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) party if it acts illegally.

	The ambassador's remark underscored a state-controlled Burmese media
report suggesting the NLD should dissolve and its leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, should be deported following recent confrontations between the two
side.

	The NLD announced early this week that it plans to summon a "people's
parliament" after the failing to convince the ruling military junta to
convene representatives of a parliament elected in 1990.

	But Hla Maung suggested such action would be considered illegal because
the government, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
has no intention of convening the parliament.

	"No matter whoever they are, they are not entitled to convene the
parliament if the Burmese government doesn't mean to do it," he said.

	"And no matter if it is the NLD or whatever group, it may be warned of
dissolved if it goes beyond the law=85 We are prepared to dissolve it."

	Hla Maung, who is known to be close to powerful SPDC secretary Khin
Nyunt, also insisted the government will not hold talks with Mrs Suu Kyi
on national reconciliation, as demanded by the international community
including the Thai government

	"We will talk to the NLD. We will not talk to only one person=85That
person is not chairperson of that party," he said, referring to Mrs Suu
Kyi, who is the party's secretary.

	Rangoon last week had a one-hour meeting with representatives of the
NLD, but excluded Mrs Suu Kyi.

	Other Rangoon officials said yesterday it wants to keep fledgling
meetings going with the opposition, but diplomats questioned government
intentions party because Nobel laureate Suu Kyi would not be included.

	The government, facing a month of low-level but concerted agitation by
pro-democracy forces, reiterated that it found other leaders of the NLD
more "responsible".

	Government officials have been briefing diplomats and foreign military
attaches over the past few days, stressing that the NLD's demands to
convene a civilian parliament would upset attempts to hold talks between
the two sides.

	The officials have described recent meetings with party officials as
confidence-building measure, but diplomats said the briefings were filled
with threats to arrest opposition members and declare Mrs Suu Kyi's party
illegal.

	"We do not feel such actions are 'confidence-building measures' by any
stretch of the imagination and are thus skeptical of the government's
sincerity," a US embassy official said on condition of anonymity.

	Mrs Suu Kyi has been recovering since Monday from a 13-day roadside
standoff against authorities preventing her from travelling to the
provinces to meet supporters. She was suffering kidney and urinary tract
problems, dizziness and low blood pressure, according to the NLD.

	Meanwhile, the country's holiest Buddhist shrine, the gold encrusted
Shwedagon pagoda, reopened after an unprecedented one-day closure due to
apprent fears of anti-government protests.

	The temple was closed on the anniversary of an important speech given
there by Mrs Suu Kyi in w988 during a nationwide uprising against
military rule. Troops eventually crushed the unrest, killing an estimated
3,000 people.

	The government said yesterday in a fax to the Associated Press it views
NLD chairman Aung Shwe as "the most responsible person of the party" and
is also willing to meet with "officially reconised central executive
committee members"

=09


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