Myanmar Extends Suu Kyi’s Arrest

The Myanmar government today extended the house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite intense international pressure and a personal appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Suu Kyi, who advocates peaceful change to bring democracy to the country, has been detained for more than 10 of the last 17 years. She was last arrested three years ago after her motorcade was attacked in an apparent attempt to assassinate her.

Her detention had been due to expire today. For many, Suu Kyi embodies the democracy movement in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and the decision of the military regime to detain her for an additional period of at least six months was a major setback for the opposition.

Annan, making a rare televised appeal to the leader of a U.N. member nation, had called on Myanmar Sr. Gen. Than Shwe to free Suu Kyi and allow her party, the National League for Democracy, to participate in rebuilding the country.

“For the democratic process and the reconciliation process to be truly successful, it has to be inclusive,” Annan said during a stop in Thailand. “And she has a role to play. And I’m relying on you, Gen. Than Shwe, to do the right thing.”

Suu Kyi, 60, has been under house arrest or imprisoned on and off since 1989. Her party won more than 80% of the seats in parliament in 1990 and she probably would have become the country’s leader, but the military regime refused to honor the election and hand over power.

Annan’s appeal came as Myanmar considered whether to extend Suu Kyi’s detention or release her. She was last arrested in May 2003, and her detention has periodically been extended. The regime informed wire services of the latest such move today.

U.N. officials, the United States and supporters around the world had expressed the hope that the government would take this opportunity to release her.

Late Friday afternoon, police visited Suu Kyi’s house in Yangon, the former capital, where she is being detained. They left after about 10 minutes, the Associated Press reported.

Annan’s brief televised statement came after a visit to Myanmar last week by his deputy, Undersecretary-General Ibrahim Gambari, who met with both Than Shwe and Suu Kyi. It was the first time a foreigner had been allowed to meet with her in two years. It also was unusual for the reclusive senior general to meet with a foreign official.

Before the regime’s announcement of the extension, Annan called the meetings a “welcome development.”

“I take this opportunity to appeal to Gen. Than Shwe and the government to release her,” Annan said.

“I believe her release will facilitate national dialogue and allow the National League for Democracy to participate in that dialogue. I think it would be in the interest of Myanmar, the region and the world at large.”

The military has ruled Myanmar for most of the last 44 years and suppressed its democracy movement. In 1988, troops gunned down thousands of anti-government demonstrators in the streets and arrested thousands more. Today, the regime holds more than 1,100 political prisoners, according to opposition activists.

The regime is unresponsive to outside pressure, preferring to isolate itself rather than yield to the West. Buoyed by trade with China and other Asian neighbors, Myanmar has refused to give in to economic sanctions imposed by the United States in retaliation for Suu Kyi’s 2003 arrest.

The military regime recently has cracked down on opposition activists, forcing dozens to resign from the National League for Democracy under the threat of imprisonment, activists say.

The military also has launched an offensive against members of the Karen ethnic group, which is seeking independence. Thousands of Karen have fled into the hills of eastern Myanmar or to Thailand.

U.N. officials told Than Shwe that his impoverished country could begin receiving millions of dollars in aid if it took steps toward democracy, including the release of Suu Kyi.

During the last few years, aid groups have withheld assistance because of the difficulty of working under the regime’s restrictions. The country recently lost $87 million in healthcare assistance, even as the country’s rates of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis have soared.

Charles Petrie, the head of the U.N. mission in Myanmar, confirmed that during high-level meetings he and Gambari had raised the possibility of increased financial assistance if Suu Kyi were freed.

Annan, who was in Bangkok to honor Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, said that freeing Suu Kyi would “allow the government and the people, not only to build the nation together, but to focus on the essential issue of economic and social development.”