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Reuters-Myanmar students stage prot



Myanmar students stage protest at Yangon campus 
02:17 a.m. Sep 02, 1998 Eastern 

YANGON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Myanmar students staged a sit-in
protest at the campus of Yangon's Institute of Technology on Wednesday,
shouting slogans demanding postponement of examinations, witnesses said. 

But a diplomat contacted in Yangon from Bangkok said the reason for the
protest was unclear and that authorities had blocked roads leading to the
campus, which is about 12 km (seven miles) north of the city centre. 

Last month students at the campus and that of Yangon University staged
their first open street protests against the military government since
1996. 

On August 24, students from the two college campuses staged their first
anti-government protests in more than a year, which were broken up by riot
police. 

In those protests, students chanted slogans calling for the downfall of the
military government and gave out leaflets supporting the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD) and its vow to convene a parliament. 

On Monday, the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) warned the
opposition through the state press that the armed forces would not stand
idle if it tried to stir up unrest. 

The military took direct power in 1988 by crushing a pro-democracy
uprising. It then ignored the results of a 1990 general election easily won
by the NLD. 

Foreign diplomats in Myanmar were scheduled to meet opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Wednesday to discuss her party's standoff with the
military government, diplomats said. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy called it ``a routine meeting with the
National League for Democracy, which is a legal political party.'' 

The envoys would ``seek elaboration on current political events and the
efforts by the government and the NLD to reconcile their political
differences,'' the spokesperson said. 

Their aim would be ``to foster dialogue, national reconciliation and a
peaceful transition to democracy,'' the spokesperson added. 

In recent days articles in the state-run press have criticised foreign
governments and diplomats for backing the NLD, which has vowed to call a
parliament this month. 

Suu Kyi told supporters last weekend that she intends to convene a
so-called ``People's Parliament'' in September. 

Government officials have said such a move would be illegal and a
parliament cannot be convened before a new national constitution is
finalised. But the NLD has accused the government of stalling in the
drafting of the new charter. 

State run media have suggested the opposition should be outlawed and Suu
Kyi deported if the party proceeds with its plans. 

The opposition has threatened to convene a parliament comprising
representatives of the country's various ethnic groups after the military
ignored its calls to convene a plebiscite on August 21 based on the results
of a 1990 general election. 

The NLD swept the 1990 election but the result was never recognised by
Myanmar's military, which has since arrested scores of opposition members
and curtailed the party's activities. 

Relations between the two sides appeared to be easing as high level
representatives of the two sides met for the first talks for more than a
year on August 18. t But progress has stalled as the administration refuses
to hold talks with Suu Kyi, a condition the NLD says is a pre-requisite for
genuine dialogue.