AP-Myanmar Gov't Claims Foiling Plo

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Subject: AP-Myanmar Gov't Claims Foiling Plot

Friday August 13 11:34 AM ET

Myanmar Gov't Claims Foiling Plot

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The military government said Friday it had arrested
four people and halted a dissident group's plot to spark a general uprising
on Sept. 9.

The government accused the National League for Democracy of planning to urge
people in this numerology-obsessed Southeast Asian country, also known as
Burma, to revolt on what they say is an auspicious date - 9/9/99.

The government also said the party, led by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San
Suu Kyi, was cooperating with an exiled government, ethnic rebels, drug
traffickers, die-hard communists and former students.

But the military government stopped short of accusing Suu Kyi, the country's
best-known opposition leader, of direct involvement.

The alleged plot, planned for 11 years, involved spreading rumors and
dispatching ``underground demolition squads'' to frighten the public, said
Col. San Pwint, spokesman for the ruling State Peace and Development
Council. It also allegedly aimed to convince civil servants, workers,
peasants, the military and the police to rise up against authority.

``Those who are trying to incite unrest and disrupt the prevailing peace and
tranquility will be severely punished,'' San Pwint told a news conference.

Myanmar was calm Sunday, but exiled dissidents in neighboring Thailand
soberly marked the anniversary of an uprising launched Aug. 8, 1988 - or
8-8-88 - that was crushed by troops. Thousands died.

Two of the dissidents arrested were Sein Aye, general secretary of the
student front, formed after the 1988 revolt, and Than Zaw, another student
front member. They were arrested June 10.

Zaw Win and Tun Kyi, two members of Suu Kyi's party, were also reportedly
arrested, but the spokesman did not say when.

In Bangkok, student front spokesman Khin Maung Win confirmed the arrests and
described Myanmar's population as ``45 million hostages.

``Next time, they'll have to arrest 400, or 4,000, because ... this is a
struggle for democracy, for human rights,'' Khin Maung Win said.

San Pwint said the All Burma Students Democratic Front and Thailand-based
Karen National Union, the largest ethnic rebel army, had organized a
``political defiance committee,'' and received $500,000 for the job from an
unidentified nongovernment organization in Norway.

Activists outside the country have likened the country's dire economic
problems to the atmosphere prior to the 1988 uprising.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 and has shown no signs of ceding
power. It urged the National League of Democracy on Friday to dissolve the
committee elected in 1990 to represent a parliament.

The army allowed the elections, but when the party won 82 percent of the
seats it forbid the parliament to convene.