Myanmar junta brands Suu Kyi a 'terrorist'

YANGON, Jan 4: Myanmar's ruling military today lashed out at the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi at a ceremony marking the 52nd anniversary of independence, branding them "terrorists" and calling on the people to destroy them, reports AFP.

More than 15,000 members of government-sponsored associations gathered in Yangon's People's Park to listen to the Independence Day message from junta chairman General Than Shwe.

"It is imperative to oppose and remove with the people's might the destructive danger of the terrorist and destructive group heading for utter devastation," said the message read by Yangon's military commander and run in all state media.

In the speech, read out following a flag-hoisting ceremony, Than Shwe also called for people "to oppose the neo-colonialists from abroad" who were assisting "internal national traitors."

Although Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) were not named, the language used was that typically reserved for them by the junta which has repeatedly accused them of having foreign backing.

It also echoed language used by the Nobel peace prize winner and daughter of independence hero General Aung San in a message delivered after her release from house arrest by the junta in 1995, observers said.

The NLD, which won 1990 elections but were never allowed to take power, were scheduled to release a message at a meeting attended by Aung San Suu Kyi later Tuesday.

The exiled "government" of Myanmar said earlier in a statement issued in neighbouring Thailand that colonial rule by Britain had been preferable to that of the military.

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) said the country had been in a state of "civil war" since independence on January 4, 1948, and called for talks with the military.

"The deprivation of freedom under the State Peace and Development Council is much worse than the deprivation of liberty under the rule of the foreign power," the statement said using the junta's official name.

The NCGUB lamented the military's takeover of power in 1962 saying it did nothing to restore peace and stability and urged people to rise up against the junta.