Burma's ruling junta has renewed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest. Police earlier detained about 20 activists as they marched to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's home in Rangoon, where she has been held since May 2003. The decision came at a tricky time for the generals, who have been criticised for their response to Cyclone Nargis. Ms Suu Kyi's party won a resounding election victory in 1990, but she was denied power by the military. The 62-year-old National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in detention.
Police bundled a number of opposition activists into a truck as they marched on Tuesday from the NLD party headquarters to her lakeside villa in Rangoon. Correspondents had expected her house arrest - which has been renewed annually - to be rolled over for another year. Her supporters have argued that she must now legally be either released or put on trial. Extending her detention will likely provoke further criticism of the junta by an international community already frustrated by the military's handling of the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.
The regime has been under fire for stalling foreign aid destined for cyclone victims. Ms Suu Kyi's detention has long been the cause of friction between the junta and the international community. Her party used the anniversary to denounce the regime's claim that 93% of voters had endorsed a new military-backed constitution at a recent referendum. It said the vote was a "sham" that was not free or fair, and claimed the authorities "used coercion, intimidated, deceived, misrepresented and used undue influence" to boost the number of "yes" votes. The party also denounced the regime for holding the referendum so soon after Cyclone Nargis, saying the ruling generals only considered "power politics and self-interest", not public welfare. |
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