Myanmar arrests dissidents, squashes fuel protests

YANGON, Aug 22 (Reuters) Myanmar's military rulers arrested 13 leading dissidents today in a series of midnight raids in Yangon designed to quash protests against soaring fuel prices and falling living standards.

Armed police also took up positions on the streets of the former capital, along with truckloads of men from the junta's feared Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). Many were carrying brooms and spades, pretending to be road sweepers.

The atmosphere was tense across the city of 5 million, with many parents choosing not to take their children to school.

In a rare announcement in all state-run newspapers, the junta said the dissidents had been arrested for ''agitation to cause civil unrest'' and ''undermining peace and security of the state'', charges that could put them in jail for up to 20 years.

The reports, which also referred to the ''ill-intention of grabbing power'', confirmed names given to Reuters by relatives.

Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zeya, Ko Jimmy, Ko Pyone Cho, Arnt Bwe Kyaw and Ko Mya Aye -- all leaders of a 1988 student-led uprising crushed by the military with heavy loss of life -- were among those detained.

Min Ko Naing, Myanmar's second-most prominent political figure after detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was released in November 2004 after 15 years in jail. He was detained again in September for four more months.

''Military intelligence and government intelligence seized their houses and searched their houses,'' another dissident, Htay Kywe, said in a recording e-mailed to Reuters by Myanmar exile groups in neighbouring Thailand.

Government agents had taken papers and mobile phones, added Htay Kywe, who had managed to evade capture during a raid on his home and had gone into hiding, one of the exile groups said.

TORTURE FEARS The arrests came ahead of a planned protest today against last week's shock hikes in fuel prices, the latest in a rare series of demonstrations against deteriorating living conditions and galloping inflation in the former Burma.

Despite the security crackdown, about 100 people staged an hour-long march in a northern district before being dispersed.

Five women and one man were arrested, although there was no violence, witnesses told Reuters.

''Onlookers applauded but failed to join the march,'' one said.

The Washington-based US Campaign for Burma said it feared for the safety of the detainees, especially Min Ko Naing, winner of US, Canadian and European human rights awards.

''Min Ko Naing and the other leaders arrested have all been severely tortured during previous incarcerations and we are gravely concerned for their immediate well-being,'' policy director Aung Din said in a statement.

Min Ko Naing's 88 Generation Students Group led a protest march on Sunday, tapping into public anger at the 500 percent rise in the price of compressed natural gas -- a hike that came without warning and brought Yangon's bus network to a standstill.

Myanmar has some of Asia's largest reserves of natural gas and has just decided to export production of two major fields worth billions of dollars to China.

Min Ko Naing -- a nom de guerre which means ''conqueror of kings'' in Burmese -- was not linked to Wednesday's protest planned by Ko Htin Kyaw, a social activist arrested four times this year.

The world's biggest rice exporter when it won independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar is now one of Asia's poorest countries after 45 years of unbroken military rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 62, has been in prison or under house arrest for much of the past 17 years. Human rights groups and the United Nations say as many as 1,100 others are behind bars for their political beliefs.

REUTERS AK KN1516