Myanmar Dissident Forced to End Protest, Albright Says

Myanmar’s military government today forced its leading dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, to return to the capital, ending a six-day confrontation over her freedom of movement after she was blocked from trying to see members of her political party.

A military driver got in her car, which was parked on a narrow bridge about 20 miles outside Yangon, the capital, and drove Suu Kyi, her two drivers and an aide back home, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright disclosed during a speech here today.

The dissident was en route to a meeting Friday when her car was blocked by military forces. She sat in her vehicle rather than turn back.

Albright condemned her forced return and predicted that such tactics will heighten tensions.

“She was all of a sudden taken in her car by a military driver back” to Yangon, Albright told members of the Asia Society assembled at the Sydney Opera House. “We think this is an unacceptable violation of her human rights.”

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner did not want to return home, Albright said. “There was no negotiated settlement,” she added, refuting the government’s version of the incident.

When she returned to Yangon, Suu Kyi’s phone line was cut off and her attempts to hold a news conference blocked, a senior U.S. official told reporters traveling with Albright. Top American and Australian diplomats have been blocked from talking with Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past decade under some form of imprisonment, including six years of house arrest.

A government spokesman in Yangon originally said Suu Kyi decided to return home today after two top officials of her National League for Democracy visited her on the bridge. He said she was running low on food.

But the government said its action was based on “health reasons” and on recommendations of Suu Kyi’s doctor, who had visited her and reported that she was suffering from dehydration. She ignored “gentle persuasion,” an intelligence official said.

It was the third time this month that military police have prevented her from meeting with members of her party outside the capital.

Wright is traveling with the secretary of State.