One of Myanmar's most powerful leaders blamed Aung San Suu Kyi's party for violence last week in which at least four people were killed, a sign the military junta may not be willing to free the Nobel laureate from detention.
The comments by military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, published in state newspapers yesterday just before he met a UN envoy who is in the country to secure Suu Kyi's release, are the first by a senior junta member on the May 30 violence.
"The recent course of confrontation taken by the NLD [National League of Democracy] led to creating the untoward incidents, causing a great loss to the state," Khin Nyunt was quoted saying in a speech to officials at an airport opening ceremony on Friday.
"Corrupt practices and the organizational work of the NLD instigated by foreign nations will not benefit the country."
Khin Nyunt held a one-hour meeting yesterday with Razali Ismail, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy to Myanmar, but there was no immediate word on what was discussed.
After further meetings at the foreign ministry, Razali hinted the junta had not yet agreed to give him access to Suu Kyi.
"I'm still talking to the government," he told reporters.
Diplomats had said the meeting with Khin Nyunt would be key to whether the junta would grant access to Suu Kyi, who, according to some reports, may have been injured in the clashes.
Suu Kyi, the NLD leader and 1991 Nobel peace prize winner, has been held in undisclosed locations since violence erupted between her supporters and those favoring the junta as she toured a provincial town in the north.
The military says four people died and 50 were injured in the clashes, but dissidents in exile suspect as many as 75 of Suu Kyi's supporters were killed and hundreds injured.
RSS