The Myanmar military government's detention of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and its crack down on her pro-democracy party has drawn expressions of deep concern from US President George W. Bush and other world leaders.
The immediate worry yesterday was over the whereabouts and condition of Suu Kyi, who was taken into what the military government called "protective custody" after bloodshed between her supporters and government backers on Friday night.
Unconfirmed reports from Myanmar exile opposition groups suggested Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, may have been hurt in the fight in northern Myanmar. The government has only said that Suu Kyi is in a "safe place" in the capital, Yangon.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The government also has closed offices of Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party, and shut universities in an apparent attempt to prevent protests.
Bush said in a statement issued by the White House that he was "deeply concerned."
"The military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters immediately, and permit her party headquarters to reopen," Bush said. "We have urged Burmese officials to release all political prisoners and to offer their people a better way of life, a life offering freedom and economic progress."
Calls for Suu Kyi's release also flooded in from the EU, Britain, Australia and Japan. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded that Suu Kyi be immediately released and "allowed to play a role" in the country's reconciliation process.
The junta's crack down has turned back the clock on that effort to reconcile the opposition and the generals, who in 1990 barred Suu Kyi's party from taking power after it won elections.
It also means international aid -- shut off since the junta took power in 1988 by violently suppressing pro-democracy protests -- won't flow any time soon to the impoverished nation, which is also known as Burma.
Even those in Asia who have advocated encouraging the junta to allow reform rather than forcing it appeared worried. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday "the whole world" is concerned about Suu Kyi's detention, and called on the junta to bring the situation "back to normal."
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said yesterday that a democratic solution is needed.
"A democratic solution, a solution through dialogue, is needed. I don't think the current situation is good. We urge a solution through dialogue," he told a news conference.
The UN special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, was to visit the country Friday, but his plans for a solution seem in tatters.
He has backed "constructive engagement" with the generals to promote reform, and in late 2001 the envoy brokered closed-door talks between the government and Suu Kyi. That led to Suu Kyi's release in May 2002 from 19 months under house arrest.
Several hundred political prisoners were freed. Suu Kyi -- who was also under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 -- was allowed freedom of movement. But the process came to standstill last year.
The generals claim Suu Kyi's supporters instigated the fracas in the north Friday night in which at least four people were killed.
But exile opposition groups maintain Suu Kyi's motorcade was ambushed by government-backed thugs and the military. Tight controls on the media and the remote location of the incident make it difficult to verify any information.
A Washington-based exile group linked to the National League for Democracy said Monday that more than 70 people were killed in the initial fight Friday night and a protest the next day.
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma also said that according to its information Suu Kyi had suffered a head injury in the confrontation. A spokesman for the group -- which calls itself a government in exile -- told reporters the information came from multiple sources inside Myanmar that have been reliable in the past.
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Myanmar junta crushes moves toward reform
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