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.