The US and the EU have led international condemnation of Myanmar's decision to extend the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, calling for her immediate release.
On Friday, the military rulers of the Southeast Asian country ordered that the Nobel peace laureate -- who has spent much of the past 17 years in detention -- be kept under house arrest for another year, police sources said.
The decision came despite mounting calls for the junta to free the 61-year-old, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern.
The extension was widely expected, with observers saying the junta is fearful the hugely popular democracy leader could threaten its rule.
"The United States condemns the generals of the State Peace and Development Council of Burma for the extension of the house arrest of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "The regime's unjustified continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and repression of other activists must end."
Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, urged Myanmar's ruling junta to rethink its decision, deploring that "all international appeals ... have once more gone unheard."
Officials visited Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon to inform her of the junta's decision. The most recent period of house arrest, which began four years ago, was scheduled to expire at the weekend.
Aung San Suu Kyi has little contact with the outside world, apart from her live-in maid and visits from her doctor.
The last time the opposition leader -- the only Nobel peace laureate in detention -- was able to leave her house was last November, when the junta allowed her to meet visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari for one hour.
Gambari told the BBC in an interview broadcast yesterday that he would contact leaders in key Asian countries such as India and China to see how they could work with the world body to "re-engage" Myanmar on the issue.
"India has a role, South Africa has a role, China has a role, Russia has a role and of course, the ASEAN countries also have a role," Gambari said.
"I intend as part of my duties to touch base ... to see how they can work with us and with the secretary general to really re-engage the government of Myanmar to deliver on these very concrete issues."
Earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokeswoman said he "deeply regrets the decision."
"He strongly believes that the sooner restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move toward inclusive national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights," said the spokeswoman, Michele Montas.
Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD expressed disappointment, with spokesman Myint Thein saying it was "not good for the country."
Citing Myanmar's rights violations, including Aung San Suu Kyi's detention, the US last week renewed sanctions against the regime for another year, as did the EU in April.
In the past week the junta has detained at least 60 pro-democracy activists as they went to pagodas to pray for Aung San Suu Kyi's release and 45 people, mostly NLD members, remain in custody.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS