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NEWS - Myanmar law group says oppos



Myanmar law group says opposition right to call "emergency" parliament

       Thu 17 Sep 98 - 04:32 GMT 

       BANGKOK, Sept 17 (AFP) - A Myanmar law group said Thursday the
National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party was
       within its rights to call an "emergency" sitting of parliament in
defiance of the junta's warnings.

       The Burma Lawyers Council said the situation in Myanmar put the
country in a "state of emergency" according to international law,
       and the convention of a people's assembly was a valid move which
"would have full legal effect."

       "If the People's Assembly were convened in Burma, the Burmese MPs
would hold full authority. It is highly likely that this would be
       recognised by the people of Burma," the council said in a
statement received here.

       "Legislative resolutions made by the People's Assembly would have
legal effect in Burma."

       Myanmar's main opposition party Wednesday announced the formation
of a 10-member "representative committee" to implement its
       decision to convene a parliament of politicians elected in the
1990 general elections.

       The NLD under Aung San Suu Kyi won the elections in a landslide
but the ruling military council has refused to recognise the result.

       "The representative committee has been formed to represent all
candidates who won seats in the 1990 general elections," an NLD
       statement said.

       NLD chairman Aung Shwe was named head of the 10-member committee,
of which party general secretary and Nobel peace
       laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was a member.

       The NLD took 382 of a possible 485 seats in the poll, but
military authorities have still to acknowledge the result.

       The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) contends
that a new state constitution needed to be put in place before
       handing over power which they took in a 1988 coup.

       According to the NLD's statement, the committee would carry out
the mandate of 251 of the parliamentarians remaining from the
       original of 485.

       The latest move by the NLD came following unheeded calls for the
military authorities to convene parliament as promised, the
       statement said.

       "We shall go ahead with our decision to convene the parliament
despite the fact that the military junta have been arresting our MPs
       as well as those of the ethnic minority parties to prevent the
convening of such parliament," the NLD said.

       It said more than 800 of its members, including 195 MPs have
already been arrested.

       "It is very clear that the military authorities are doing their
utmost to see that parliament is not convened," the NLD said, adding
that
       political, economic and social difficulties "can never be solved
by these wholesale arrests."

       The statement said the committee's first meeting, held late
Wednesday, "aopted resolutions," but it did not elaborate.

       In a recent statement from a senior junta official said the
opposition members had not been arrested and had merely been invited for
       a political discussion and were being accommodated in government
guesthouses.