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Myanmar officials reopen opposition offices after a year

`It was unclear whether the step indicates the ruling junta is preparing to release Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who remains under house arrest.'

Myanmar's military government reopened the headquarters of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party yesterday, almost a year after shutting all of the party's offices and arresting its top leaders, party officials said.

It was unclear whether the step indicates the ruling junta is preparing to release Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who remains under house arrest.

The decision comes a month before the government is to convene a convention to draft a new constitution, part of its stated plan to move the country toward democracy.

Three government officials broke open the wax seal on a lock on the National League for Democracy (NLD) party's office near the Shwedagon Pagoda in the capital, Yangon, said Maung Maung Yin, an NLD official.

The party, which has spearheaded the democracy movement in the Southeast Asian country for the last 16 years, welcomed the move but called for Suu Kyi's release.

"It's good that the office is reopened. We now have a place to meet. We are hoping for more good things to happen like the release of political prisoners," said Nyunt Wei, the party's national treasurer.

The hardline government appeared to be bowing to intense international pressure to ease restrictions against democracy proponents. But critics say such concessions are aimed at deflecting criticism rather than granting greater freedom.

Maung Maung Yin said the three officials came to his house in the morning and asked him to accompany them while they broke open the seal at the dilapidated two-story building.

He said the government officials told him they would not go inside the premises. "They said, `it is open now,'" Maung Maung Yin said.

Later yesterday, party members gathered to clean up the headquarters and sweep away fallen leaves from around the building.

The junta plans to convene a constitutional convention on May 17, part of its seven-point "roadmap" toward democracy in the country, which has been under military rule since 1962.

Last week, the junta freed two other top NLD leaders -- party Chairman Aung Shwe and Secretary U Lwin -- so they can attend the convention. But the NLD said it cannot decide whether to participate until Suu Kyi and party Vice Chairman Tin Oo are also released.

U Lwin yesterday told reporters he had not been informed about the reopening beforehand and demanded that the ruling junta also reopen NLD branch offices countrywide. The party was expected to release a statement on the constitutional convention later in the day.

The junta shut the party headquarters and all other NLD offices last May 31 in a nationwide crackdown on the party following a bloody clash between supporters of Suu Kyi and a pro-junta mob the previous night.

Suu Kyi and all other top NLD leaders were arrested, but most have been released.

The current junta took power in Myanmar, also known as Burma, in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when the NLD won handsomely, instead jailing hundreds of party workers and obstructing party work.

After years of intense international criticism of its suppression of democracy and disregard for human rights, the junta began holding reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi in October, 2000, but made no progress in restoring democracy. The process came to a standstill after the May 30 violence and Suu Kyi's arrest.
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