Myanmar opposition reports more arr (r)

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      Myanmar opposition reports more arrests, overseas
      condemnation grows

      Wed 09 Sep 98 - 15:22 GMT 

      YANGON, Sept 9 (AFP) - Myanmar's opposition said Wednesday the
military had
      arrested 108 more of its members as international condemnation of
the detentions
      increased.

      Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said in a
statement the
      latest arrests brought the number of members detained since Sunday
to 328.

      "These are innocent people who have not broken any laws and the NLD,
which
      condemns these unlawful arrests, urges the government to desist and
release them," the
      statement said.

      It said that eight of those arrested in the past 24 hours were
members of parliament
      elected in 1990 polls which were won in a landslide by the NLD-led
political
      oppposition.

      The military refused to hand over power after the election and has
rejected repeated
      demands that the 1990 parliament be convened. 

      The opposition statement said 521 party members, including 187
members of
      parliament, had been arrested since May this year following the
commemoration of the
      eighth anniversary of the 1990 polls.

      A separate statement from the NLD said the party had called on the
junta to meet its
      representatives to discuss the detentions and work out a solution.

      "But the authorities have not responded to the overture until this
time of reporting," it
      said.

      Overseas criticism of the arrests intensified. The United States
said it "deplores in the
      strongest of terms" the detentions while Britain said it "wholly
condemns" the arrests.

      Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett said Britain and its European
Union allies were
      considering a visit by an EU ministerial troika to Yangon to meet
Aung San Suu Kyi.

      London also urged its EU partners to adopt its position of
discouraging tourism, trade
      or investment in Myanmar.

      Germany condemned "the fresh wave of repression and intimidation" by
the junta while
      Japan called for the detainees to be freed.

      Observers in Yangon said the arrests appeared to be a pre-emptive
strike following the
      NLD's announcement that it intends unilaterally to convene by the
end of September the
      parliament elected in 1990.

      The junta said in a statement Tuesday the party members had merely
been invited for a
      political discussion, were being housed in government guest houes
and had not been
      arrested. 

      But the US embassy in Yangon said military officials had admitted
they were being
      detained to thwart the convening of parliament.

      US charge d'affaires Kent Wiedemann held high-level talks with
military officials in
      Yangon on Monday to demand the detainees be freed.

      The junta Wednesday repeated its denials that anyone had been
arrested and lashed out
      at Washington for criticising the detentions.

      "No member of the National League for Democracy has been arrested or
charged with
      any crime," a statement said.

      Meanwhile, state-run media on Wednesday accused the opposition of
supporting
      "terrorists" and hiding weapons and ammunition.

      A commentary in the official New Light of Myanmar said such
activities called into
      question whether the NLD was a legitimate political party.

      "Why is it receiving, feeding and assisting the terrorists?" said
the newspaper
      commentary, believed to be officially inspired.

      "Why were arms, ammunition and explosives found in the hands of its
party
      members?" it said, without giving any details.

      "In fact the National League for Democracy and the lady (Aung San
Suu Kyi) so-called
      secretary general are engaged in organisational activities in their
attempt to foolishly
      follow the path of confrontation."

      A commentary calling for the deportation of Aung San Suu Kyi was
also repeated in the
      English-language edition of the New Light of Myanmar after being
printed a day earlier
      in Burmese-language papers.

                                                                  ©AFP
1998