Desire4Bono
Refugee
Myanmar To Release Opposition Leader
Sun May 5, 7:53 PM ET
By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE, Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military junta will release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest on Monday, Myanmar's ambassador in Washington and a military government spokesman said.
"With regard to Aung San Suu Kyi, I have been informed that she is at liberty to carry out all her activities, including matters concerning her party, as of May 6, 2002," Ambassador Linn Myaing told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The ambassador said he expected she would be free later Monday.
The end of Suu Kyi's detention after 19 months has been widely expected for days following U.N.-brokered negotiations aimed at breaking a political deadlock in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
In Yangon, a spokesman for Myanmar's military junta confirmed that her release was imminent, but gave no details of any reconciliation deal or what her political role would be.
"She can travel. We will sort of cooperate because she is a prominent person. The government is responsible for her security," said spokesman Col. Hla Min said by telephone. "This means there is no condition (on her release), but we will cooperate."
In a written statement released earlier, Hla Min said Monday would mark "a new page for the people of Myanmar and the international community."
The statement did not mention Suu Kyi by name, but said: "We shall recommit ourselves to allowing all of our citizens to participate freely in the life of our political process, while giving priority to national unity, peace and stability of the country as well as the region."
Hla Min said the junta would also continue an earlier process of releasing political detainees, many of them Suu Kyi supporters.
"We have released nearly 600 detainees in recent months and shall continue to release those who will cause no harm to the community," he said.
The comments by the ambassador and the junta spokesman were made just before dawn Myanmar time and there was no immediate physical sign in Yangon that Suu Kyi was about to be free.
Scores of foreign reporters have been keeping a vigil outside the barricaded avenue that leads to Suu Kyi's lakeside villa.
The junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement during which Suu Kyi came into prominence.
The government put her under house arrest in 1989 and called general elections in 1990, which were won by her party. However, the junta refused to hand over power.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her democracy struggle, was released in 1995 but was prohibited from traveling outside Yangon. She was placed under house arrest again in September 2000 after two high-profile attempts to leave the capital, formerly known as Rangoon
However, the two sides began reconciliation talks in October 2000, brokered by U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, who also predicted major political changes after his latest visit to the country last month.
Sun May 5, 7:53 PM ET
By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE, Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military junta will release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest on Monday, Myanmar's ambassador in Washington and a military government spokesman said.
"With regard to Aung San Suu Kyi, I have been informed that she is at liberty to carry out all her activities, including matters concerning her party, as of May 6, 2002," Ambassador Linn Myaing told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The ambassador said he expected she would be free later Monday.
The end of Suu Kyi's detention after 19 months has been widely expected for days following U.N.-brokered negotiations aimed at breaking a political deadlock in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
In Yangon, a spokesman for Myanmar's military junta confirmed that her release was imminent, but gave no details of any reconciliation deal or what her political role would be.
"She can travel. We will sort of cooperate because she is a prominent person. The government is responsible for her security," said spokesman Col. Hla Min said by telephone. "This means there is no condition (on her release), but we will cooperate."
In a written statement released earlier, Hla Min said Monday would mark "a new page for the people of Myanmar and the international community."
The statement did not mention Suu Kyi by name, but said: "We shall recommit ourselves to allowing all of our citizens to participate freely in the life of our political process, while giving priority to national unity, peace and stability of the country as well as the region."
Hla Min said the junta would also continue an earlier process of releasing political detainees, many of them Suu Kyi supporters.
"We have released nearly 600 detainees in recent months and shall continue to release those who will cause no harm to the community," he said.
The comments by the ambassador and the junta spokesman were made just before dawn Myanmar time and there was no immediate physical sign in Yangon that Suu Kyi was about to be free.
Scores of foreign reporters have been keeping a vigil outside the barricaded avenue that leads to Suu Kyi's lakeside villa.
The junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement during which Suu Kyi came into prominence.
The government put her under house arrest in 1989 and called general elections in 1990, which were won by her party. However, the junta refused to hand over power.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her democracy struggle, was released in 1995 but was prohibited from traveling outside Yangon. She was placed under house arrest again in September 2000 after two high-profile attempts to leave the capital, formerly known as Rangoon
However, the two sides began reconciliation talks in October 2000, brokered by U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, who also predicted major political changes after his latest visit to the country last month.
