Suu Kyi begins another year in detention in Myanmar

Suu Kyi begins another year in detention in Myanmar
The Associated Press , Yangon Wed, 05/28/2008 2:00 PM World
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi began a sixth year under detention Wednesday as foreign donors said aid would continue to flow into the military-ruled nation to save cyclone victims.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed regret over Suu Kyi's continued arrest while praising "a new spirit of cooperation" between the junta and the international community in the aid effort.
In Washington, President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled" by the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest but stressed the U.S. would continue to provide aid to the victims.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years, had her detention extended by one year Tuesday, a government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Wednesday, her National League for Democracy party denounced the extension as "illegal," saying it would launch an appeal. Party spokesman Nyan Win said the regime should also open a public hearing on the case.
Suu Kyi has long been the symbol of the regime's heavy-handed intolerance of opposition and the focus of a worldwide campaign lobbying for her release.
"The United States calls upon the regime to release all political prisoners in Burma and begin a genuine dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy, and other democratic and ethnic minority groups on a transition to democracy," Bush said in a statement.
The junta's extension of Suu Kyi's detention came as Myanmar fended off worldwide criticism for its inadequate aid effort for the survivors of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis.
The storm left an estimated 2.4 million people in desperate need of food, shelter and medical care, according to the UN, and the government says it killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing. The UN said cyclone devastation has forced postponement of the new school term in the delta for one month, to July.
Only after intense international pressure and a personal appeal by Ban, who visited Myanmar last week to meet with junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe, did the government relent and say it would allow foreign relief workers to travel to the Irrawaddy delta, the area hardest hit by the cyclone.
The UN says some of their foreign staffers have begun moving into the delta and emergency food supplies are being ferried in on its helicopters.
The French warship Mistral Wednesday landed on the resort island of Phuket, Thailand, to unload some 1,000 tons of humanitarian supplies for shipment by the United Nations to Myanmar.
The regime has forbidden direct aid by warships of France, the United States and Great Britain, which have been standing by off the Myanmar coast to deliver the assistance.
Myanmar's state media has voiced fears of a U.S. invasion to grab the country's oil reserves.
"The Myanmar government appears to be moving toward the right direction, to implement these accords," Ban told reporters in New York Tuesday.
"Some international aid workers and NGOs have already gone into the regions of the Irrawaddy delta, without any problem."
"I hope -- and I believe -- that this marks a new spirit of cooperation between Myanmar and the international community as a whole."
Adding to criticism against the junta, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda said Suu Kyi's continued detention went against the "goodwill of the international community" in its efforts to aid Myanmar in its moment of need.
"While we are all trying to help, this is very much against that spirit," he told The Associated Press in the Philippines. (****) from www.thejakartapoast.com