Burma's party spoiler

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Monday, September 27, 1999 Published at 15:50 GMT 16:50 UK 

BBC
             World: Asia-Pacific

             Burma's party spoiler 

             Aung San Suu Kyi's movements have often been restricted 

             The authorities in Burma have blocked roads leading to
             the headquarters of the opposition National League for
             Democracy on the day the party marks its 11th
             anniversary. 

             It is the third time in three weeks that the security forces
             have restricted access to the party's offices in the
             capital, Rangoon. 

             Groups of riot police and plain-clothes intelligence
             officers guarded the streets on either side of no-entry
             signs set up on the access roads. 

             The party - which won a landslide victory in general
             elections in 1990, but was prevented by the military
             rulers from taking power - had been planning a low-key
             ceremony to mark the anniversary of its founding on 27
             September 1988. 

             The National League for Democracy, led by 1991 Nobel
             Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, was formed after
             the military regime assumed power in 1988, following the
             bloody suppression of the pro-democracy movement. 

             Anniversaries 

             Similar restrictions were imposed on access to the party
             office for two days around 9 September, when the
             authorities took precautions against calls for
             anti-government protests on "9-9-99" day. 

             Roads were blocked again on 16 September, the first
             anniversary of the setting up by the party of a
             10-member committee to represent parliament. 

             Military strongman General Khin Nyunt has warned that
             groups like the National League for Democracy were
             endangering the sovereignty of the country. 

             According to the state-run newspaper New Light of
             Myanmar, he spoke on Sunday of "destructive groups
             and their Western masters who continue to endanger the
             national sovereignty in their attempt to cause
             disintegration of the union and loss of independence". 

             Under fire 


                                 Burma's human rights record
                                 has come under the spotlight
                                 this month because of the
                                 imprisonment of two young
                                 British protesters who
                                 publicly declared support for
                                 the country's democracy
                                 movement. 

                                 A UK Foreign Office report in
                                 London has accused the
                                 government in Rangoon of
                                 presiding over a system of
                                 summary executions, torture,
             rape and detention without trial. 

             But the Burmese Government has dismissed this
             complaint and a separate report by the United Nations
             condemning its human rights record. 

             Foreign Minister Win Aung told the United Nations
             General Assembly on Friday: "Here, I wish to
             underscore that the government does not condone any
             violations of human rights."