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Aung Sang Suu Kyi fails to pick up food

Myanmar’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi rejected food delivered to her home amid speculation that she has launched a hunger strike to protest the government’s refusal to hold talks on democratic reforms.

Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD), said yesterday he could not confirm whether the Nobel laureate was refusing to eat, but said bags of food delivered on Monday to a checkpoint outside her heavily guarded house were not picked up.

Aung Sang Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years and she relies on the NLD’s food deliveries for survival. It remains unclear whether she has launched a hunger strike — since her supporters are barred from meeting her.

Nyo Ohn Myint, head of foreign affairs for the NLD (Liberated Area), which is based in Thailand, said the 63-year-old Aung Sang Suu Kyi has refused the food deliveries since Aug. 15 and would continue doing so until her demands are met.

But he could not say whether that constitutes a hunger strike, since his group has no direct contact with her.

Aung Sang Suu Kyi told the regime that she wants a resumption of talks with the government on national reconciliation, the installation of a satellite dish in her house and the freedom for her personal assistant, Khin Win, to leave whenever she wants.

It is unclear how she communicated her demands to the regime or passed messages to her party.

“If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi continues to refuse food from her comrades, her health will be of serious concern,” the NLD (Liberated Area), said in a statement.

“Two people living with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are also refusing food. The international community’s immediate action is necessary,” it said.

The news comes after Aung San Suu Kyi repeatedly canceled meetings with UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his six-day visit to Myanmar that ended on Saturday. Since refusing to see Gambari, supporters have speculated that Aung San Suu Kyi has grown more frustrated with the UN’s failure to bring about change in the military-ruled nation.

On Sunday, Nyan Win said Gambari had wasted his time in Myanmar.

He also criticized the envoy for failing to meet the country’s leader, General Than Shwe, and for being unable to get any commitment from the junta to start talks with the opposition on national reconciliation.

Nyan Win also castigated Gambari for offering to help the junta prepare for planned 2010 elections.

The NLD has criticized the planned polls, which follow a constitutional referendum earlier this year that critics say was neither free nor fair.

The new Constitution guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military, and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency.
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