Myanmar junta releases first NLD de

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar junta releases first NLD detainee, warns against parliament
Wed 16 Sep 98 - 09:57 GMT 

YANGON, Sept 16 (AFP) - Myanmar's military said Wednesday it had released a
senior member of the opposition who was detained last week but said the
others would remain in custody for the time being.

The announcement of the release was accompanied by a stern warning to Aung
San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) not to convene the
parliament elected in 1990 but never allowed to sit.



"The government views with grave concern the expressed intention of the NLD
to convene a people's parliament," a junta statement said, adding that such
a move may lead to "political chaos." 



The junta has effectively thwarted plans by Aung San Suu Kyi's party to
convene the parliament this month by detaining most of the party's key
members. 



The NLD-led opposition won those polls by a landslide but the military has
refused to relinquish power.



The NLD says 783 of its members have been detained in recent months,
including 196 MPs elected eight years ago. The opposition has said the
military arrested 328 of those members since Sunday last week.



Observers have said the arrests appeared to be a pre-emptive strike
following the NLD's announcement it intends to convene parliament by the
end of September despite official warnings not to do so.



The junta had earlier said the NLD members had merely been invited for a
political discussion. It said they were being housed in government guest
houses 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.



Overseas criticism has been fierce. The United States said last week that
it "deplores in the strongest of terms" the detentions while Britain said
it "wholly condemns" the arrests.



London urged its European Union partners to discourage tourism, trade and
investment in Myanmar.



The junta statement on Wednesday slammed the criticism of some "outside
observers," saying they did not understand the situation.



It said it had released 85-year-old Thakin Khin Nyunt on Monday, saying he
was now with his family and in "good health."



"It is hoped that, with the cooperation and goodwill of the NLD leadership,
the rest of the NLD members will soon be home," the statement said.



"The government has no wish to house them for any longer than necessary,
and regrets the inconvenience to those involved." 



Yangon was calm Wednesday after students completed their first exams in two
years, diplomats said.



Scores of riot police remained outside the Hlaing university campus and
around NLD headquarters but most resident students had been provided with
buses to take them to their home towns.



"I think they got the students out of town as soon as possible," a western
diplomat said. "They have avoided any major confrontation and that was the
aim."



Hlaing and the nearby Yangon Institute of Technology have witnessed large
anti-junta protests in recent weeks, the biggest since campuses were closed
in December 1996.