Myanmar extends opposition leader's detention
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - May 27, 2008 The move came as officials said that international aid workers
had finally begun entering Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta area
after being blocked for more than three weeks by the junta.
A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said that Suu
Kyi's detention was officially extended by one year on Tuesday
afternoon.
Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest continuously since May
2003, has long been the symbol of the regime's brutality and the
focus of a worldwide campaign that has lobbied for her release.
The extension was issued despite a /*Myanmar*/ law that stipulates
no one can be held longer than five years without being released or
put on trial.
Earlier Tuesday, police hauled away about 20 opposition party
members who were protesting Suu Kyi's detention. Witnesses saw riot
police shove members of the National League for Democracy into a
truck as they were marching from the party's headquarters to Suu
Kyi's home.
The decision comes at a delicate time for the /*junta*/.
It already is facing international condemnation for the way it
failed the Cyclone Nargis relief effort, with more than half of the
2.4 million survivors of the storm still desperately needing food,
clean water and shelter more than three weeks after the disaster.
Official government estimates put the death toll at about 78,000
with an additional 56,000 people missing.
But few expected Suu Kyi to be released, despite urging by both
the United Nations and some members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations.
"Their failure to abide by their own law by refusing to release
(Suu Kyi) ... is a clear slap in the face to (U.N.
Secretary-General) Ban Ki-moon and the ASEAN diplomats," U.S.
lawyer Jared Genser, hired by Suu Kyi's family to push for her
release, said earlier this week. "They are out of time to hold her
under their own law."
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current
junta seized power in 1988 and refused to honor the results of 1990
general elections that were won by Suu Kyi's party.
Myanmar's leaders are leery of foreign aid workers and
international agencies because they fear an influx of outsiders
could undermine their control.
The junta is also hesitant to have its people see aid coming
directly from countries such as the United States, which it has
long treated as a hostile power seeking to invade or colonize.
Officials said Tuesday that international aid workers had
finally begun entering the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta. The apparent
breakthrough in the flow of aid came after promises made by
Myanmar's ruling generals to the U.N. Secretary-General, who
returned to New York on Sunday after a four-day visit.
"International aid workers are starting to move to the delta,"
said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok for the U.N.
humanitarian effort in Myanmar. Helicopters also began shuttling
high-energy biscuits and ready-to-eat meals into the hardest hit
area Tuesday, he said.
The French aid agency Doctors Without Borders said its teams had
entered remote villages around the delta town of Bogalay where
people had not eaten for three days.
The U.N. World Food Program said it has sent three international
staffers into the delta since the weekend and hopes to deploy
larger numbers in coming days.
The agency's Paul Risley said Monday was a "record, red-letter
day with seven visas applied for and seven issued." Myanmar's
government had earlier denied many visa applications by U.N. and
private aid agencies.
Relief groups are hoping to capitalize on the junta's new
openness to reach the 1.4 million people that are living in
outlying areas who have so far received no international aid, said
Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"In the Irrawaddy River delta we have a logistical nightmare
because of the hundreds of rivers and small islands," Byrs told
reporters in Geneva. "Some places are only reachable by inflatable
boats. It's a problem, a major problem."
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Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to
this report.