NEWS - Myanmar ethnic leaders who m

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar ethnic leaders who met U.N. official held

Myanmar ethnic leaders who met U.N. official held

  
YANGON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Myanmar's main opposition said on Friday the
military government had arrested leaders of two allied ethnic parties
who took part in talks with a U.N. envoy last month aimed at breaking
the country's political deadlock. 

The National League for Democracy said Naing Tun Thein, 82, chairman of
Mon National Democratic Front, and Kyin Shin Htan, chairman of Zomi
National Congress, were arrested on November 3 for the second time in
two years. 

It said no reason had been given for their detention and they should be
immediately released without conditions. 

The two were among four ethnic leaders who met Assistant U.N.
Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto last month when he came to Myanmar to
try to promote dialogue between the ruling generals and the beleaguered
opposition led by 1991 Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD's
secretary-general. 

``It is very narrow-minded to unlawful to arrest the leaders of the
nationalities,'' the NLD said in a statement. ``The political, economic
and social problems being faced in the country will not be resolved by
arrests.'' 

The two were among three ethnic leaders arrested in September last year
after backing a committee the NLD set up to represent a parliament never
allowed to form following the party's landslide election victory in
1990. 

ANOTHER ETHNIC LEADER HELD SINCE 1998 

They were subsequently freed to allow them to receive medical treatment,
but the third leader arrested with them, Saw Mra Aung, 82, of the
Arakhan League for Democracy, remains in detention. 

Earlier this week, the NLD issued a statement saying the government had
freed members of its central youth and women's committees detained since
September last year. They had been held at Yangon's Insein Jail and a
military camp and were freed in groups up to November 4, it said. It
gave no numbers. 

The party praised the ``perseverance and courage'' of the committee
members and said they had been unlawfully detained. 

The government spokesman declined to comment on the latest arrests
reported by the NLD. 

De Soto's Myanmar mission followed a visit last year during which he
raised the possibility of World Bank development aid if the government
initiated a dialogue with the opposition. 

So far the military has refused to negotiate with Suu Kyi's party unless
she disbands the committee set up to represent parliament, a challenge
to its rule. 

The U.N. General Assembly, as well as Western countries led by the
United States and the European Union, has condemned Myanmar for failing
to democratise and severe human rights violations, including forced
labour and torture. 

On Friday official newspapers in Myanmar reported that 70 fighters from
the Karen National Union, an ethnic group that has fought the central
government since the late 1940s, defected on Wednesday along with
members of their families. 

The KNU is the largest of a handful of armed ethnic groups fighting the
central government. The KNU and the government blamed each other for the
failure of their last round of peace talks in November 1996. 

06:30 11-12-99