NEWS - U.S. Demands Release of Myan

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U.S. Demands Release of Myanmar Opposition Members

            Reuters
            08-SEP-98

            BANGKOK, Sept 8 (Reuters)- The top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar
has
            demanded the military government free opposition members
detained
            to prevent them from convening a parliament, a U.S. embassy
            spokeswoman in Yangon said on Tuesday. 

            Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Monday
            that the authorities detained 110 of its members on Sunday
and
            Monday, including 50 members who won seats in the country's
last
            general election eight years ago. 

            A spokesman for the government confirmed NLD members had
been
            detained but gave no figures. He said the action was to
prevent the
            party calling a parliament, something that "would not be
permitted by
            any government in the world." 

            U.S. charge d'affaires, Kent Wiedemann, made the demand for
their
            release to senior members of the Myanmar government on
Monday,
            the embassy spokeswoman said. 

            "He protested their having been detained and when told by
the
            authorities that they did not know how long they would be
detained, the
            United States asked for their immediate release," she said. 

            The authorities had responded to Wiedemann by saying that
the NLD
            members had not been arrested but "detained to prevent them
from
            attending a parliament the NLD has announced it will convene
this
            month," the spokeswoman said. 

            The NLD has vowed to call a "People's Parliament" of
candidates
            elected in a 1990 election. The NLD won the poll by a
landslide but the
            government refused to accept the result, arguing that a
constitution is
            needed before a new parliament can be formed. 

            A diplomat in Yangon said some of those NLD members detained
            since Sunday had been taken away by military intelligence
officers in
            the middle of the night. 

            "We understand some were rousted out of bed at 3 a.m. in the
            morning," the diplomat said. 

            A government statement seen on Tuesday said it had invited
NLD
            members to government guest houses to "present the
government's
            view" and to "invite them on their suggestion (of) convening
a
            parliament in the absence of a constitution." 

            "The government is...encouraged by the actively positive
response
            and understanding of these NLD members and hopes that an
            understanding can be realised to work together towards
building a
            multi-party democracy," it said. 

            The government set up a national convention in 1993 to draw
up a
            constitution to replace the one the military abolished when
it seized
            power in 1988 by crushing a pro-democracy uprising. 

            The convention's work has been suspended since 1996. 

            The government statement said a working committee of the
            convention "is in the process of working towards the laying
of the
            furtherance of the principals of the National Constitution."