WRAPUP 6-Myanmar military guarantees new election; protesters block train services

(Updates with comment, detail)

* Military denies its action was a coup

* Says will not hold power for long

* Protesters block train service to south

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta guaranteed onTuesday that it would hold an election and hand over power,denied its ouster of an elected government was a coup or thatits leaders were detained, and accused protesters of violenceand intimidation.

The junta's justification of its Feb. 1 seizure of power andarrest of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others came asprotesters again took to the streets and after a U.N. envoywarned the army of "severe consequences" for any harsh responseto the demonstrations.

"Our objective is to hold an election and hand power to thewinning party," Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for theruling council, told the junta's first news conference sinceoverthrowing Suu Kyi's government.

The military has not given a date for a new election but ithas imposed a state of emergency for one year. Zaw Min Tun saidthe military would not hold power for long.

"We guarantee ... that the election will be held," he toldthe nearly two-hour news conference, which the militarybroadcast from the capital, Naypyitaw, live over Facebook, aplatform it has banned.

Asked about the detention of Nobel prize winner Suu Kyi andthe president, Zaw Min Tun dismissed the suggestion they were indetention, saying they were in their homes for their securitywhile the law took its course.

He also said Myanmar's foreign policy would not change, itremained open for business and deals would be upheld.

The military will be hoping its reassurances will dampen thecampaign of daily opposition to its rule and to the ousting SuuKyi and her government.

As well as the demonstrations in towns and cities across theethnically diverse country, a civil disobedience movement hasbrought strikes that are crippling many functions of government.

The unrest has revived memories of bloody outbreaks ofopposition to almost half a century of direct army rule thatended in 2011 when the military began a process of withdrawingfrom civilian politics.

But violence has been limited this time though police haveopened fire several times, mostly with rubber bullets, todisperse protesters.

A woman who was shot in the head in Naypyitaw last week isnot expected to survive. Zaw Min Tun said a policeman had diedof injuries sustained during a protest.

He said the protests were starting violence while thecampaign of civil disobedience amounted to the illegalintimidation of civil servants, and warned that the military'srepsonse would be within the law.

"We will wait patiently. After that, we will take actionaccording to the law," Zaw Min Tun said.

The army has given itself extensive search and detentionpowers and has published penal code amendments aimed at stiflingdissent with tough prison terms.

TRAIN BLOCKED

On Tuesday, protesters milled onto a sun-baked stretch ofrailway track waving placards in support of the disobediencemovement and blocking train services between Yangon and thesouthern city of Mawlamyine.

"Release our leaders immediately," and "People's power, giveit back," the crowd chanted in live images broadcast by media.

Crowds also gathered in two places in the main city ofYangon - at a traditional protest site near the main universitycampus and at the central bank, where protesters called forstaff to join the civil disobedience movement.

About 30 Buddhist monks protested against the coup withprayers in Yangon, while hundreds of protesters marched throughthe west coast town of Thandwe.

The army took power alleging that its complaints of fraud ina Nov. 8 general election, in which Suu Kyi's National Leaguefor Democracy party had won a landslide, were being ignored.

The electoral commission had dismissed the army'scomplaints.

Suu Kyi, 75, spent nearly 15 years under house arrest forher efforts to end military rule.

She faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkieradios and is being held on remand until Wednesday. Her lawyersaid on Tuesday police had filed a second charge of violating aNatural Disaster Management Law.

The coup has prompted an angry response from Westerncountries and the United States has already set some sanctionsagainst the ruling generals.

Zaw Min Tun said sanctions were expected, but later said thejunta would maintain friendship with the internationalcommunity, which had recognised the new leadership.

U.N. Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener spoke onMonday to the deputy head of the junta in what has become a rarechannel of communication between the army and the outside world,urging restraint and the restoration of communications.

"Ms Schraner Burgener has reinforced that the right ofpeaceful assembly must fully be respected and that demonstratorsare not subjected to reprisals," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq saidat the United Nations.

"She has conveyed to the Myanmar military that the world iswatching closely, and any form of heavy-handed response islikely to have severe consequences."(Additional reporting by Martin Petty in Bangkok; Writing byMatthew Tostevin and Robert Birsel; Editing by Lincoln Feast,Nick Macfie & Simon Cameron-Moore)