Burma Opposition to Form United Front

Three opposition leaders declared Friday that they will form a united front to oppose the military government of Gen. Saw Maung, which took power last weekend.

The announcement marked the first formal attempt by Aung Gyi, Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi to unite the numerous student, worker and other groups seeking an end to 26 years of autocratic military rule and ruinous economic policies.

Tun Shwe, spokesman for the three, said, “Many organizations, including the students, have requested them to form a front as an umbrella organization of all groups striving for democracy.”

The failure to form a united front during weeks of anti-government demonstrations upset many middle-class and educated Burmese who support the opposition movement, a Western diplomat said.

U.S. Staff Evacuated

Also on Friday, the U.S. Embassy evacuated five staff members to Bangkok, Thailand, in a precautionary move. More staff members are to be flown out in coming days, but the embassy will stay open, said Ross Petzing, spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. About 100 dependents were evacuated earlier.

The United States announced Thursday that it is suspending all aid except emergency humanitarian assistance to Burma because of the “unsettled political conditions.”

Burma’s military intelligence chief, Brig. Gen. Khin Nyunt, said that by Wednesday, 263 people, including 238 civilians, had been killed since Sunday’s coup, a foreign military attache said. That is significantly higher than figures previously released by the government but far short of the 400 deaths that some Western diplomats have estimated for Rangoon alone.

The government described the civilian casualties as looters.

In a nationwide radio and television broadcast Friday, Saw Maung repeated promises that the military will step down in favor of whoever wins multi-party elections to be held as soon as peace is restored. He gave no date for the balloting.

No major demonstrations have been reported in the capital since Monday, after two months of almost daily demonstrations.

“It looks as if they’ve effectively established military control over (Rangoon),” said one Western diplomat. “They just overwhelmed them with firepower.”