Myanmar junta detains leaders of Suu Kyi's NLD

Myanmar junta detains leaders of Suu Kyi's NLD

YANGON (AFP): Myanmar's military government on Sunday detained
the leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD), a day after a roadside stand-off with the opposition
leader ended.

The junta's spokesman said Sunday some senior NLD members had
been "requested" to remain at home during the investigation, the
first confirmation that the NLD's heads, including Aung San Suu
Kyi, had been detained.

Although the government spokesman denied the opposition
leaders had been arrested, witnesses in Yangon saw armed guards
outside NLD leaders' homes, preventing them from leaving.

During the leaders' detention, the authorities have been
searching through the NLD's offices for information about recent
meetings between the opposition and a group of foreigners who
visited Myanmar and smuggled out a video of Suu Kyi, the regime
spokesman said.

The Yangon junta also charged that elements of the NLD had
been "engaging in terrorist activity,"
"Certain quarters of the NLD have been engaging in terrorist
activity," said the official spokesman for the Yangon junta.

Elements of the NLD had collaborated with the anti-regime
insurgent group God's Army in smuggling five remote-controlled
bombs into Myanmar, the spokesman said.

God's Army, a group led by two teenage twins believed by some
to have magical powers, was allegedly involved in a hospital
siege in Thailand earlier this year and in the seizure of the
Myanmar embassy in Bangkok last year.

The Yangon junta frequently charges the NLD with terrorist
acts.

The NLD's headquarters was raided in the early hours of
Saturday, just before the junta announced that Suu Kyi had been
"escorted" home following a nine-day roadside stand-off.

At the same time, at least three senior members of the NLD's
central executive committee were also reportedly placed under
house arrest and had their telephone lines cut.

On Sunday, the government stressed that normality prevailed
while nonetheless maintaining the clamp-down on the opposition.

The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar newspaper
highlighted Sunday the "business as usual atmosphere" in Yangon.

Yangon was "full of weekend activities ... pagodas thronged
with devotees, amusement parks with holiday makers, shopping
centers with customers and cinemas with movie-goers," it said.

Meanwhile, the military authorities kept in place a ring of
high security riot police around the NLD headquarters, Suu Kyi's
residence and the home of NLD vice chairman Tin Oo.

The riot police prohibited civilians or diplomats from
entering the area or contacting NLD members.

There was no sign of Suu Kyi, Tin Oo or any other leading
executives.

Exiled opposition leaders expressed concerns about Suu Kyi's
well-being.

"We are very concerned about Aung San Suu Kyi's safety. The
junta it seems, doesn't care at all about what world leaders
think" and could do anything to her, said Aung Thu Nyein,
secretary general of the All Burma Students Democratic Front, a
Thailand-based exile group.

Up until Saturday, Suu Kyi and a dozen NLD supporters had been
camped out in their cars near Dallah, on the outskirts of Yangon,
after they were prevented from going to a party meeting in
defiance of a ban on travel outside the capital.

The opposition leader had shown no apparent signs of wanting
to end the confrontation.

Several foreign governments castigated the Myanmar junta for
their handling of the situation.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Saturday slammed
the Yangon junta for its resolution of the stand-off, and Britain
hinted at diplomatic retaliation against Myanmar.

The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but
the junta has never recognized the result and is accused by
foreign critics and human rights groups of severe repression of
opponents.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burmese nationalist leader General
Aung San, was under house arrest for six years and has
subsequently had her movements greatly restricted.