Myanmar opposition says Suu Kyi won't back down

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (unseen) and her 12 supporters are in a roadside standoff in Dala, just outside Yangon, in this photo from Sunday

YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi entered the second week of a gruelling roadside protest on Thursday with her supporters pledging she would not back down from her confrontation with Yangon's generals.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won elections by a landslide in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern, demanded that the 55-year-old Nobel laureate be allowed to travel south to Yangon to meet party members.

Myanmar's government, which has been stepping up its attacks on Suu Kyi and the NLD after adopting a conciliatory tone at the start of the protest, said Suu Kyi was trying to stir up trouble.

"This action is seen as a deliberate move to engage in an act of confrontation with the government and to attract world attention," it said in a new statement on Thursday.

Suu Kyi was halted by police on August 24 as she headed out of Yangon to meet NLD members south of the capital.

It was the first time she had tried to leave Yangon since another roadside confrontation in 1998 that lasted 13 days until deteriorating health and dehydration forced her to return home.

This time Suu Kyi appears to have planned in advance for a possible roadblock and has taken ample food and water with her. She also has access to fresh supplies from local people and supporters, and analysts say her protest could last much longer.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Unfortunate Challenge

The government in its statement lashed out at international critics who have condemned its treatment of Suu Kyi, and insisted it was committed to democracy.

"It is unfortunate that the government in every positive move or step in the right direction has been challenged, ridiculed and impeded, creating unnecessary obstacles in (the) orderly transition to a multi-party democracy," the government said.

The NLD vowed that Suu Kyi would stand firm.

"It is hereby declared again that General-Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will not turn back until and unless she has fully completed her intended organizational tasks," the NLD said.

In a statement, it said the site south of Yangon where Suu Kyi, her driver and 14 NLD members have been camped since Thursday was infested with mosquitoes, and the authorities would be responsible if any harm came to her.

Photographs released by the government during the stand-off show the group's two vehicles -- a saloon car and a pickup truck -- parked by a dirt track and surrounded by umbrellas and tarpaulins to shade them from the sun.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as the United States, Canada and the European Union, have attacked Myanmar's treatment of Suu Kyi.

Neighboring Thailand has warned the stand-off may damage a planned summit between the Association of South East Asian Nations and the EU in Laos in December. It would be the first ministerial-level meeting between the two groups since relations soured after ASEAN controversially admitted Myanmar in 1997.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The Nobel Peace Prize
The National League for Democracy
Aung San Suu Kyi: The Voice of Her People
Burma Forum
  •  Message from Aung San Suu Kyi
Amnesty International
The Golden Land Myanmar

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