Source - Business Day Website (Eng)
May 29, 2006


BANGKOK – Myanmar’s military rulers extended the house arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, defying an international outcry demanding her freedom.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been detained since May 2003, would continue to be held in her rambling lakeside residence in central Yangon for another year, said a home ministry official who was involved in the decision.

”It is one year,’’ he said in a terse confirmation of the extended house arrest of the 60-year-old, who has spent 10 of the past 17 years in detention.

In the last week, hope had swelled among her supporters after the junta unexpectedly allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with top UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, her first contact with the international community in more than two years.

With her arrest under review this weekend, the United States issued a new demand for her release, joined by Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand and Malaysia, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan made a direct appeal to junta leader General Than Shwe.
The UN chief declined to answer reporters’ questions about the extension as he left Bangkok at the end of an Asian tour on Saturday, but Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon expressed disappointment.

”I was hoping the release would come today. It was a good opportunity for the international community to work with Myanmar,’’ he said.

The extension came as her National League for Democracy was marking the 16th anniversary of its landslide victory in 1990 elections, which the junta has never recognised.

NLD spokesman Myint Thein said the party was still optimistic about Aung San Suu Kyi’s release, speculating that the junta would prefer not to release her on the election anniversary.

”We still feel hopeful that she will be released, because the signs have been very positive,’’ he said, noting that the junta could choose to release her at any time, regardless of the length of the extension.

Some 70 NLD supporters wearing Aung San Suu Kyi T-shirts and the party’s orange uniforms staged a sit-in near her residence, but they left after a few hours when police asked them to.

Both NLD supporters and sources close to the military said they believed that the junta had tried to negotiate a way to loosen the restrictions on her.

”I think they tried to get her to accept conditional release but she refused,’’ one source close to the military said.

If the military did try to offer a conditional release, Myint Thein believed she would have rejected it.

”Aung San Suu Kyi would never agree to half-measures,’’ he said.
Military analyst Win Min told AFP in Bangkok that allowing the Gambari visit may have been as big a gesture as the junta was prepared to make to the international community.

”The Gambari visit was to reduce international pressure, that’s it,’’ he said. ”The best they can offer is more access when the UN visits.’’

Her latest period of detention began three years ago, after her convoy was ambushed as she made a political tour in northern Myanmar.

The junta says four people were killed in the attack, but the NLD put the toll at nearly 100.

 

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