Myanmar junta gives Aung San Suu Kyi a rare break from house arrest
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:36:45 -0800 (PST)
Myanmar junta gives Aung San Suu Kyi a rare break from house arrest
Posted : Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:19:00 GMT
Yangon - Myanmar's ruling junta on Wednesday allowed opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi a rare respite from house arrest to meet with members
of her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party, sources said. Suu
Kyi was escorted from her family compound in Yangon, where she has
been under house arrest since May, 2003, to the Sein Le Kanthar State
Guest House where she was allowed to hold talks with NLD chairman Aung
Shwe and seven other party executives, opposition sources confirmed.
No details were immediately available on the outcome of the meeting.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been kept under near
complete isolation for the past four years.
It was not clear why Myanmar's military regime allowed her to meet
with the NLD leaders but the conciliatory gesture comes at a time when
the junta is under increasing pressure to show progress in its
political dialogue with the opposition.
European Union special envoy for Myanmar Piero Fussino was in Bangkok
earlier this week calling on all Asian governments to unite in putting
pressure on Myanmar's junta.
"It is necessary to open a new phase of more constructive and more
concise. We need a real dialogue between the junta and the opposition
and all different sectors of Myanmar society," said Fassino.
Fassino has already visited Beijing to discuss the Myanmar issue, and
plans to travel to Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Japan
to solidify Asian support in what has become a fairly universal call
on the military rulers of Myanmar to speed up their political dialogue
with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other suppressed segments
of Myanmar society.
The EU appointed Fassino as special envoy for Myanmar last year in an
effort to increase pressure on the junta to bring about real political
change in their country in the aftermath of a brutal crackdown on
protests led by Buddhist monks that shocked the world and left at
least 31 people dead.
The crackdown reignited international concern about Myanmar, which has
been under military rule since 1962, but the growing frustration has
thus far accomplished little in terms of forcing the regime into a
real political dialogue with Suu Kyi.
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has visited Myanmar on
several occasions, with the last visit in November, to press for a
genuine dialogue but with limited success.
.
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