NEWS - Myanmar Military Arrests 11

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Myanmar Military Arrests 110 Members of Suu Kyi's Party

            AP
            07-SEP-98

            YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's military government has
            arrested 110 members of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
            political party, the party said Monday. 

            The crackdown on Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy had
            been expected after the party announced last month it would
convene
            the parliament that was chosen in the 1990 elections. Suu
Kyi's party
            had dominated those elections but the military government
never
            allowed that parliament to be seated. 

            The NLD said 50 elected members of Parliament were among the
            110 party members detained in a wave of arrests that began
Sunday. 

            The arrests came after the junta apparently tamed dissent by
university
            students, who peacefully took their exams Monday after
protests last
            week and months of canceled classes. 

            In an indirect confirmation of the arrests, the government
issued a
            statement late Monday saying it had "invited" NLD members to
official
            guest houses for an exchange of views. The guest houses have
been
            used to detain dissidents in the past. 

            The military junta claimed to have received a positive
response from
            the party members, but detained NLD members could not be
reached
            to confirm the claim. 

            The NLD won 82 percent of the seats at stake in 1990's
election, but
            the military failed to honor a promise to hand over power to
the victors.

            Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was under
house
            arrest from 1989-95, has been stepping up her campaign to
bring
            democracy to Myanmar, also known as Burma. 

            For Monday's exams, truckloads of riot police guarded
against
            possible outbreaks of anti-government unrest as students
were bused
            from their dormitories to take the tests. 

            All universities and colleges in Yangon and the country's
            second-biggest city, Mandalay, were closed indefinitely in
December
            1996 after student unrest. 

            Educational institutions in other parts of the country
continued classes
            and held 1997 final exams, but did not reopen for the next
school year. 

            Some have reopened within the last few months so students
could
            prepare for and take long-delayed exams. But the students
protesting
            last week said they had not been allowed adequate time to
prepare,
            and had demanded the exams be postponed. 

            Myanmar has been ruled by the military in various ways since
1962.