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Suu Kyi reaches out to Myanmar mili



Subject: Suu Kyi reaches out to Myanmar military on uprising anniversary

Suu Kyi reaches out to Myanmar military on uprising anniversary
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(CNN, August 7, 1999)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi asked the army to
join in building a democratic Myanmar on Saturday, the eve of the 11th
anniversary of a violently crushed uprising.

Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, one of the regime's leaders, signaled that the
government still views Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and her party as
traitors serving "neocolonialists" bent on creating fresh unrest and taking
over the country.

Exiled opposition groups urged people in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to
wear yellow and light colors Sunday to commemorate those who lost their
lives in the uprising, which began Aug. 8, 1988, and was crushed in
bloodshed six weeks later.

The uprising is known in this numerologically obsessed country as "8-8-88"
and anti-government groups outside the country have already expressed hopes
of a new revolt on Sept. 9, or 9-9-99, though there appears to be little
chance of another uprising.

Suu Kyi, 53, daughter of independence hero Aung San, has prepared an address
for broadcast on foreign radio -- her words are not allowed in Myanmar's
state-controlled media. The text was released Saturday to news agencies in
Bangkok, Thailand, by an activist group.

She urged the military to work with her party, the National League for
Democracy, in a partnership to bring democracy to the country and lift the
economy, which ranks as one of the poorest in Asia.

The military has consistently refused Suu Kyi's appeals for a dialogue or
imposed conditions that her party will not meet.