(Xinhua) Myanmar Govt Releases Anot

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

[What's interesting to me about this article is the last para of this PRC State
wire service. I don't remember having seen any other quasi-offical Chinese
acknowledgement of the NLD's election victory. Has anyone else?]

XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
July 2, 2001, Monday 11:15 AM Eastern Time

Myanmar Govt Releases Another Political Prisoner

DATELINE: YANGON, July 2

The Myanmar government Monday afternoon released one more political 
prisoner, U Aye Win, who is
cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK), general secretary of the opposition 
National League for
Democracy (NLD), after he served his prison term of five years in jail, 
according to an official
Information Sheet.

The release brought the total number of political prisoners freed in the 
country since June 15 to 23.

Those set free before U Aye Win are mostly elected members of People's 
Parliament in the 1990
general election, including U Saw Mya Aung, chairman of the Parliament 
which was unilaterally formed
by the NLD on September 16, 1998, and chairman of the Rakhine League for 
Democracy.

The move came after U.N. Special Envoy Razali Ismail ended his fourth visit 
to Myanmar in early June
in his renewed effort to mediate between the government and the opposition 
to settle the country's
decade-long domestic political crisis.

World leaders, including U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, welcomed the 
Myanmar government's
move.

It was also seen as a step forward in the building of confidence between 
the government and the
opposition as the two sides have been holding secret talks since October 
last year.

ASSK, who is still under house arrest along with NLD chairman U Aung Shwe, 
has asked the
government to allow her party to resume its activities throughout the 
country and so far dozens of the
party's branch offices in some areas of the country have been reopened.

In the 1990 general election, sponsored by the ruling military government, 
the NLD won 396 out of the
485 parliamentary seats. However, the winning NLD complained that it has 
not been allowed to take
office. The government still regards itself as a care-taker or transitional 
government.