Myanmar opposition looks to the future<\/p>\n
YANGON (AFP): Myanmar's opposition National League for
\nDemocracy (NLD) took stock yesterday of a nine-year struggle
\nagainst the country's ruling junta and looked to the future with
\nplans for its youth wing.<\/p>\n
The second and final day of the NLD congress resumed with more
\nthan 700 delegates in attendance after the military's State Law
\nand Order Restoration Council (SLORC), in a surprise move, gave
\nits consent to the meeting.<\/p>\n
Yesterday's agenda was dominated by two political papers, the
\nfirst of which looked back on the party's trials and tribulations
\nsince it was set up in 1988 amid nationwide demonstrations
\nagainst the previous military government.<\/p>\n
In the same year, SLORC took power in a bloody crackdown on
\npro-democracy protesters in which thousands were killed.<\/p>\n
But the second paper looked forward to the party's efforts
\nwith the NLD youth, NLD sources said.<\/p>\n
It was the first national congress the party has been allowed
\nto hold in two years, as the junta attempts to improve its image
\nfollowing the country's admission in July to the Association of
\nSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN).<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, SLORC's first secretary Lieutenant-General
\nKhin Nyunt invited NLD chairman Aung Shwe for open discussions
\nwhich the government said could pave the way for dialog, but
\nbalked at including Aung San Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the SLORC appeared to be trying to polish its
\nimage while marginalizing the popular leader and Nobel laureate.<\/p>\n
The party reinstalled Aung San Suu Kyi as leader following her
\nrelease from six years of house arrest in 1995, but the junta has
\nnot recognized the move.<\/p>\n
An NLD document read out to delegates at the mass meeting
\nSaturday said the party remained open to "genuine dialog".<\/p>\n
"The NLD will always welcome and leave a way open for a dialog
\nto solve the nation's problems ... but such a dialogue must be
\nmeaningful as well as genuine," it said.<\/p>\n
Such a dialog must be based on national interests and
\nguarantee democracy and human rights, it added.<\/p>\n
The document charged that previous meetings on the terms of
\nthe military government not only restricted the rights of a
\npolitical party to nominate its own delegates, but were "one-
\nsided affairs."<\/p>\n
"Meeting and talking with other organizations and choosing and
\nnominating their own representatives is the sole right of the
\nparty," it said.<\/p>\n
The SLORC has come under repeated fire from some western
\nnations and human rights activists for reported abuses and its
\nsuppression of the democracy movement in Myanmar.<\/p>\n
Analysts and diplomats said the SLORC allowed the congress to
\nproceed to avoid the international uproar which followed the
\ndetentions of hundreds of delegates when blocking the party's
\nprevious three attempts to hold a congress.<\/p>\n
Tight security was deployed around Aung San Suu Kyi's
\nresidential compound, which was off-limits to traffic and the
\npublic, but more than twice the number of delegates than
\nofficially permitted were again let through the cordons.<\/p>\n
Several hundred were turned away, however, as an estimated
\n1,300 NLD delegates gathered from across the country, despite
\nefforts by local authorities to deny transportation from some of
\nthe more far-flung areas.<\/p>\n
ASEAN members have been quietly pressing the junta to improve
\nits image and seek accommodation with the country's most
\nrepresentative institution.<\/p>\n
The NLD won more than 80 percent of seats in 1990
\nparliamentary elections never ratified by the SLORC.<\/p>\n
But sources said Myanmar's foreign ministry was trying to
\ndiscourage diplomats based here, especially from Asian countries,
\nfrom attending the closing ceremonies of the congress.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
\nPhilippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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