THAILAND/MYANMAR: UN chief Kofi Annan calls on Mynamar junta to do the "right thing" and free Aung San Suu Kyi

Record ID: 334299

  • Title: THAILAND/MYANMAR: UN chief Kofi Annan calls on Mynamar junta to do the "right thing" and free Aung San Suu Kyi
  • Date: 26th May 2006
  • Summary: YANGON, MYANMAR (FILE - 2000) (REUTERS) SUU KYI READING IN STUDY (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAB0D4VO0Q212HZ737W40R9ATIB
  • Story Text: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a direct appeal to Myanmar junta supremo Than Shwe on Friday to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose latest detention order expires this weekend.
    Making the address at the United Nations headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday (May 26), Annan appealed to General Than Shwe to do the right thing.
    "Aung San Suu Kyi has spent ten of the past sixteen years in detention or under house arrest. The government will be reviewing her status within 24 hours. I take this opportunity to appeal to General Than Shwe and the government to release her. I believe her release will facilitate national dialogue and allow the National League for Democracy to participate in that dialogue. I think it will be in the interest of Myanmar and hte region and the world at large. It will also allow the government and the people not only to build the nation together but to focus on essential issues of economic and social development. For the democratic process and the reconciliation process to be truly successful, it has to be inclusive and she has a role to play. And I rely on you, General Than Shwe, to do the right thing," said Annan.
    Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi has spent 10 of the past 16 years behind bars or under house arrest, but Myanmar's ruling junta let a top U.N. official meet her last weekend, raising hopes she could be released on Saturday.
    Myanmar, which has been under military rule of one form or another since 1962, has been a member of ASEAN since 1997 but is a source of embarrassment to one of the few international groups willing to have it as a member.
    Senior U.N. official Ibrahim Gambari met Suu Kyi last Saturday in a Yangon guest house -- her first contact with an outsider in More than two years.
    Gambari said after the meeting it did not mean her release was imminent, but the encounter sparked talk the generals might be prepared to free her when her current six-month detention order lapses on Saturday.
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