NEWS - Myanmar Blocks Roads, but Al

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Blocks Roads, but Allows Nld Commemoration

Myanmar Blocks Roads, but Allows Nld Commemoration

               Reuters
               19-JUL-99

               YANGON, July 19 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military put road
               blocks around the National League for Democracy (NLD)
               party headquarters on Monday to vet attendance at a
               ceremony to mark the 1947 assassination of party leader
               Aung San Suu Kyi's father. 

               Security personnel allowed some 400 people with
invitations
               to attend the ceremony in the capital marking the 52nd
               anniversary of the death of Aung San, Myanmar's national
               hero and founding father. No incidents were reported. 

               Aung San was assassinated on July 19, 1947, six months
               before independence from Britain. The day has been
               commemorated as "Martyrs' Day" ever since. 

               The NLD said in a statement read at the meeting it would
               seek to resolve the country's political crisis through
peaceful
               dialogue. 

               The NLD and Suu Kyi have been locked in a long and bitter
               standoff with the ruling generals over the junta's
failure to
               recognise the result of Myanmar's last election in 1990,
               which the party won by a landslide. 

               The military's efforts to silence the party since through
               arrests and intimidation have provoked U.S. and EU
               sanctions. 

               The NLD said it remained ready for dialogue. "We...
resolve
               to seek answers to solve the political problems by
holding
               talks peacefully through political means," party vice
chairman
               Tin Oo said at the ceremony. 

               The military has said it was willing to resume contacts
that
               began last year but insisted the NLD must first renounce
a
               committee it set up last year to represent the parliament
               which was never allowed to form. 

               Yangon has poured cold-water on international mediation
               efforts -- including a visit earlier this month by a
mission from
               the European Union -- saying it can solve its own

problems. 

               At the weekend, commentaries in the military-controlled
               official media stepped up attacks on the NLD and Suu Kyi,
               blaming it for the current political stalemate. 

               The commentaries charged that ageing members of the
               party's executive committee were not brave enough to
stand
               up to Suu Kyi, who has been vilified in the official
media for
               stubbornness.