AFP-Aung San Suu Kyi maintains road

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Aung San Suu Kyi maintains roadside protest
Sat 15 Aug 98 - 06:27 GMT 

YANGON, Aug 15 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained
holed up in a van beside a highway outside the capital Saturday on the
fourth day of a stand-off with junta officials, foreign diplomats said.

Her van, also carrying two drivers and an official from her National League
for Democracy (NLFD), has been towed to a bridge where she spent six days
in another confrontation last month, they added.

"It looks like nothing has changed and we're going through the same thing
as last time, though this one could be longer," said one western diplomat,
referring to a six-day stand-off which ended when the Nobel peace laureate
was forcibly taken back to her home on July 29.
In that case she was blocked from travelling to meet supporters outside
Yangon and refused to budge from the small wooden bridge linking the
highway to rice paddies some 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of Yangon.

She was blocked by officials when she attempted to travel Wednesday, but
the diplomats said the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader had
brought extra supplies this time.

It is her fourth failed attempt to travel to meet provincial supporters in
little over a month.

The junta has said it cannot allow her to proceed further for her own
safety as there are secuirty problems in the area.

However an ambulance has been deployed and she has been given various items
to make her vigil more comfortable.

"There are not many ambulances in Yangon, however, and the government hopes
that Ms. Suu Kyi and her companions will return home soon so that the
ambulance and medical staff may be be put back to use helping the truly
needy," the junta said in a statement late Friday.

"In order to provide for their comfort and welfare, government officials
have provided a beach umbrella, some garden chairs and a selection of
journals to help Ms. Suu Kyi pass the time."

The NLD-led opposition won 1990 polls by a landslide but the junta has
refused to relinquish power.