Myanmar’s Rulers Scoff at Peace Prize : Human rights: The government reacts to the awarding of a Nobel to opposition leader Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s military rulers Tuesday issued their first official reaction to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying it was like “howling up the wrong tree.”

Meanwhile, Western diplomats in the capital of Yangon (formerly Rangoon) said they are skeptical of reports from a team of French medical doctors that Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since July, 1989, may have been moved from her home.

“Everyone assumes that she’s still there,” said one diplomat. “There has been no change in the security guard around her house.”

A U.N. human rights mission arrived in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on Monday to investigate allegations of torture and other abuses. The group, headed by Japanese university professor Yozo Yokota, is reported to be attempting to arrange a meeting with the detained opposition leader.

The daughter of Myanmar’s first independence leader, Suu Kyi (pronounced Soo-Chee) is chairman of the National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory in May, 1990. The military authorities never allowed the opposition to take their seats in Parliament, and many of them have since been detained or arrested.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Oct. 14 that Suu Kyi, 46, had been awarded the Peace Prize for her fight against what it described as a “regime characterized by brutality.”

“Suu Kyi’s struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades,” said Francis Sejersted, head of the Nobel Prize committee.

Myanmar’s military rulers, who call themselves the State Law and Order Restoration Council, initially greeted the award announcement with stony silence, although most people in the nation learned of the prize from foreign radio broadcasts.

A cartoon published Tuesday in the Working People’s Daily, the official state council newspaper, indicated how embarrassing the award had been for the military. While not mentioning Suu Kyi by name, it suggested that the award should have gone to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar or South African black activist Nelson Mandela.

Showing two heads talking, one figure comments: “Shouldn’t Perez de Cuellar or Mandela have won the Nobel Prize? That is our view. That is the Myanmar view.”

The other figure comments: “That’s right. That’s right. It’s surprising they haven’t won the prize. It’s just like howling up the wrong tree. Ha! Ha!”

Diplomats said that in recent months, Suu Kyi’s name has rarely appeared in the state-controlled press. She is often referred to as “that British woman” because she is married to a British professor, Michael Aris, who is now teaching in Cambridge, Mass. She is often criticized by the official press for diluting the purity of Burmese blood by having children with a foreigner.

The awarding of the prize to Suu Kyi has passed without much notice in Yangon, diplomats said. There have been quiet celebrations among the few human rights campaigners still not imprisoned, but no public displays.

The Indian Embassy has defied government restrictions and presented a copy of its government’s congratulations to Suu Kyi in a display case in central Yangon, which has drawn large crowds.

But in a sign of official displeasure, the government refused a visa to the Polish ambassador, based in Bangkok, who wanted to visit Myanmar to offer his congratulations to Suu Kyi before ending his assignment.

The French doctors’ group said in a statement issued in Paris that it had been rebuffed along with several diplomats in efforts to meet with Suu Kyi and were concerned about her safety.

“We believe there are grounds for deep concern because the fact is that her whereabouts are unknown,” said Alain Deloche of the group Doctors of the World. “No foreign diplomat knows of anyone of any nationality, including Burmese, who has seen her for the past nine months, including her husband.”