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AP-Myanmar Arrests 120



Saturday August 14 7:26 AM ET

Report: Myanmar Arrests 120

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - An opposition group of exiled Myanmar students
today accused the country's military regime of taking 120 people into
custody over the past two weeks to thwart a general uprising.

The All Burma Students' Democratic Front also claimed that a virtual curfew
had been imposed in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, and other
places since last week. The group is composed of students who fled Myanmar
11 years ago after an uprising was crushed.

The allegations come a day after Myanmar's government announced that it had
foiled a plot by students, ethnic rebels, die-hard communists, drug
traffickers and the party led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to
instigate a mass uprising Sept. 9.

The government claimed that four people - two members of the student group
and two from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy - had been arrested and
said anyone engaged in the plot would be subject to ``severe punishment.''

Opposition groups have been urging a new uprising for Sept. 9, 1999 - or
9-9-99 - and claim the date is auspicious. Many people in Myanmar, also
known as Burma, take numerology very seriously, though nine is usually
associated with former military strongman Ne Win.

There was no immediate government comment on the group's claims. A week ago,
exiles marked the 11th anniversary of the last uprising - Aug. 8, 1988, or
8-8-88. But Myanmar was quiet, as it was last year on the 10th anniversary.