Burma warns of terrorist acts ahead of National Convention

At least a dozen "internal and external terrorists,'' identified as the 88 Generation Students who fled after a bloody political crackdown in 1988, completed small arms training near Burma's border with Thailand and have entered Rangoon, administrative capital Naypyidaw, and northern centre Mandalay, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The newspaper said these socalled "terrorists" were trained by the All Burma Students' Democratic Front and that they plan to "jeopardise peace and stability'' in Burma. It called on the public to expose them.

The ABSDF was formed in 1988 after the military junta crushed prodemocracy demonstrations in Rangoon. Many fled to rebelcontrolled areas along the ThaiBurmese border where they took up arms against the military government of Burma.

A National Convention to draft a new constitution is scheduled to resume on July 18, at Nyaunghnapin convention centre, 45 kilometres (25 miles), north of Rangoon.

The ruling State Peace Development Council (SPDC) says the convention is the first of seven steps on a "roadmap to democracy''.

Critics, including opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) called the process a "sham". SPDC handpicked most of the convention's 1,000 delegates and no timetable has been announced for completion of the process.

The convention first convened in 1993, but it was aborted in 1996 after NLD delegates walked out in protest, saying it was undemocratic. The convention was resurrected in 2004.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been without a constitution since 1988, when its 1974 charter was suspended. Burma has been under military rule since 1962.

Also in the same edition, the newspaper slammed the International Committee of the Red Cross for accusing the junta of human rights abuses. It also accused the ICRC of colluding with rebels.

Than Than Nwe, wife of hospitalised Prime Minister Soe Win, told a crowd gathered in Rangoon on Tuesday for Burma's Women's Day that the ICRC report was wrongly assessed.

"We perceived that the points of the announcement are just a wrong assessment based on madeup stories and exaggerated accusations of antigovernment groups," she said.