Myanmar dissidents upbeat on takeov

[maye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Myanmar dissidents upbeat on takeover anniversary

"Myanmar dissidents upbeat on takeover anniversary"

[ABC news.com, 18.9.99]

BANGKOK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Dissident exiles said on the  11th anniversary
of Myanmar's military takeover on Saturday they  were confident of achieving
democracy soon and called for  continued international support for their
cause.

Leaders of the National Council of the Union of Burma, an  umbrella group of
dissidents based on the Thai-Myanmar border,  told a Bangkok news conference
that even though a mass uprising  they called for last week hand not
materialised they had  succeeded in putting ruling generals on the
defensive.

They said the scattered protests that had occurred on and  leading up to the
numerically significant four nines day --  September 9, 1999 -- had been
"only a beginning."

"People need change and the international community believes  Burma needs
change, that is why this a good time and a good year  to push forwards,"
said Moe Thee Zun, vice president of the  All Burma Students' Democratic
Front (ABSDF).said.

"We have full confidence that we will achieve our goal in the  very near
future," he said. "We would like to appeal to the  international
community...that this is the time to support us."

Inside Myanmar the capital Yangon was quiet on Saturday and  official media
made no mention of the military takeover on  September 18, 1988, when troops
killed several thousand people  to crush a nationwide pro-democracy
uprising.

But state-run newspapers carried articles denouncing  government opponents
as "cohorts of neocolonialists" bent on  destroying the nation by
campaigning for economic sanctions.

"There are a handful of forces hindering the path we are  following," the
report quoted Khin Marlar Maung, a  representative of the pro-government
Union Solidarity  Development Association (UWSA), as saying.

"They are destroying our nation by preventing all  assistance, even social
and educational assistance."

The newspapers quoted the head of the ruling military  council, General Than
Shwe, as saying that 11.8 million people  had joined the UWSA since its
founding in 1993 and would join  hands with the armed forces in defending
the nation.

Moe Thee Zun said the security clampdown the generals  imposed to thwart the
uprising showed they were not in a strong  position. "They are not on the
offensive, they are on the  defensive right now."

He conceded that the pro-democracy movement was hampered by  communications
problems given tight military control, not least  through the continued
closure of schools and universities, which  were the hotbeds of
anti-government dissent in the past.

However, he added: "Now we are building better and better  communications
they cannot shut the mouths of all the people."

Myanmar's military has been widely criticised for rights  abuses since
crushing the 1988 uprising and ignoring the result  of the country's last
election two years later when the  opposition National League for Democracy
won by a landslide.

An NCUB statement said that of the 392 NLD members who won  seats in the
election, 109 were in prison or detention, two had  died in prison and more
than 100 had been forced to resign or  into exile. It said 132 remained
active.