BURMA DEMOCRACY FORUM VOWED DESPITE DETENTION OF 256 ACTIVISTS.Byline: Aye Aye Win Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (oung sän s  chē), 1945–, Burmese political leader. predicted Saturday that the military regime's crackdown on her supporters will backfire, fueling the cause of democracy. ``The arrests have very much helped our cause, but I'm afraid it has not been easy for those that have been arrested,'' she said in an interview with the Associated Press. The government arrested more democracy activists Saturday, bringing the total number of those detained to 256 - nearly all of them activists who were expected to attend a meeting today of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB; Burmese: - a self-appointed exile government based in the Burmese jungle - said one detainee de·tain·ee n. A person held in custody or confinement: a political detainee. Noun 1. detainee - some held in custody political detainee has died in custody. The group identified him as Mya Hlaing, a National League for Democracy member elected to parliament in 1990. The report, received by fax in Bangkok, could not be immediately confirmed. The government permitted Suu Kyi to deliver her weekly speech at the gates At the Gates are a Swedish melodic death metal band. They are one of the forebears of the Gothenburg sound of heavy metal along with other bands of the Gothenburg metal scene like Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. of her compound Saturday, and she told the crowd of 5,000 - more than twice the usual number - that the party meeting would proceed. ``Our meeting today is far bigger than usual in spite of the inclement in·clem·ent adj. 1. Stormy: inclement weather. 2. Showing no clemency; unmerciful. in·clem weather,'' Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma, said Saturday. ``This is an indication that the people of Burma approve of what we are doing and support fully our intentions to hold the conference (today).'' The meeting would be the first full party conference for the National League for Democracy since it won national elections in July 1990. It would also be the first time that any major opposition meeting has taken place since Suu Kyi was released in July after six years of house arrest. The government has not said whether it will allow the meeting to take place, but Suu Kyi's supporters continued with preparations. In a bamboo-and-thatch hall erected on her front lawn, dozens of volunteers arranged chairs and hung red and gold banners with the party symbol, a fighting peacock. Suu Kyi said the government had rounded up 256 party supporters, including 232 representatives elected during the 1990 general election. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi gives her week ly speech Saturday to twice the usual crowd on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons. of a conference. Associated Press |
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