Aung San Suu Kyi Detention Extended ­ UN must act

27 May 2006

Burma¹s brutal military dictatorship today extended Aung San Suu Kyi¹s
detention, sending a strong signal to the international community that it
has no intention of relinquishing power. The extension comes despite calls
for her release from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Burma¹s Asian
neighbours. It is also an embarrassment for UN Under-Secretary Ibrahim
Gambari, who was duped by the regime¹s lies and propaganda during his visit
to Burma last week.

³We are disappointed but not surprised. This regime has no interest in
turning a new page with the international community,² said Yvette Mahon,
Director of the Burma Campaign UK. ³The UN has tried and failed several
times in the past to solve this problem with talks. What we need now is a
binding Security Council resolution to compel the regime to release Aung San
Suu Kyi and restore democracy to Burma.²

The regime has consistently defied the United Nations, ignoring over a dozen
calls for Aung San Suu Kyi¹s release by the Secretary General, and 28
resolutions by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Commission.

Hopes for Aung San Suu Kyi¹s release were stoked by Ibrahim Gambari, who
said that her release would be concrete evidence that the regime was ready
to turn a new page. Past UN envoys to Burma have also made similar
overoptimistic predictions, only to be proved wrong. Gambari failed to learn
the lessons of history. The regime engages with the international community
only as a negotiating tactic to delay possible sanctions. It has twice
before used the release of Aung San Suu Kyi as a trump card to alleviate
international pressure, without introducing a single democratic reform. So
far this tactic has worked.

As the generals smiled and posed for pictures with Gambari last weekend,
their soldiers continued their military offensive against Karen civilians,
with more than 16,000 people now forced to flee their homes. Intimidation of
NLD members continues, and more than 1,100 political prisoners languish in
jail, many regularly tortured.

Aung San Suu Kyi has now spent a total of more than ten years in detention
(10 years and 215 days on 27th May 2006). Her current period of detention
began on May 30th 2003 when a convoy she was travelling in was attacked by a
regime run militia, the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA).
USDA thugs beat around 100 National League for Democracy supporters to death
in the attack.