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Change Your Life! |
The steadfast pro-democrat Aung San Suu Kyi |
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August 27, 2000
BANGKOK (AP) - Myanmar's military government on Saturday urged pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to return home and end a three-day roadside standoff with security forces who have blocked her car outside the capital, Yangon. Suu Kyi and her companions "remain free to return to their homes at anytime, or to continue staying by the road side as long as the conditions remain safe," said a government statement released in Yangon. The statement indicated that the government was keeping open the option of sending her back to Yangon forcibly, using her safety as a pretext. Suu Kyi was stopped by police and security forces in the Yangon suburb of Dala on Thursday when she and other party members tried to drive out to the countryside for party organizational work. She has refused to go back to the capital and has spent the last two nights in the car. It appeared she was ready to spend a third night there. It was the first time in two years that Suu Kyi had tried to leave Yangon, and the swift security action she provoked indicated that the military government, which has ruled Myanmar with an iron fist since 1988, is in no mood to allow any opposition activity. She had tried to leave four times in 1998 but was stopped every time. On one occasion, she remained in her car for nearly six days and on another for 13 days. On Friday, the London-based Amnesty International urged the government to let Suu Kyi travel unhindered. In a statement, Donna Guest of Amnesty said restricting Suu Kyi's movements is another example of the military's attempts to stamp out "all peaceful opposition activities" in Myanmar, also known as Burma. "This level of surveillance and intimidation is all part of the general harassment" by the government against Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, she said. Similar protests were made by the United States and Britain on Friday. Also, NLD chairman Aung Shwe wrote to Myanmar's military leader, Gen. Than Shwe, on Friday saying Suu Kyi and the others "have been illegally and unlawfully prevented by the military dictators which amounts to criminal act." A copy of the letter was given to reporters in Yangon on Saturday. Suu Kyi's car and a pickup carrying 12 party supporters have been herded into a small lane, which has been blocked by two trucks on both ends, witnesses said. Aung Shwe's letter said tires of both vehicles were deflated. The government statement said Suu Kyi has been provided with an ambulance from Yangon with one doctor and six medical attendants around the clock to "ensure her maximum comfort and welfare." It said she was not allowed to go further because security conditions make it unsafe for her to travel outside Yangon. It said the government "encourages" her to return home and continue "her political activities in a more secure environment in Yangon." Meanwhile, the government will assist her in carrying out political activities in Dala, a "small but charming town which is 10 minutes by boat from Yangon," the statement said. Security problems have rarely been reported in Kungyangon, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Yangon, where Suu Kyi was planning to go. Reporters were stopped by security forces at the ferry crossing point on the Yangon river, which separates Yangon from Dala, and politely told to go back. On Saturday, two NLD cars waited on the Yangon side of the ferry crossing in case Suu Kyi decided to return. Residents coming from Dala said there was little traffic on the roads in the suburb. Suu Kyi has been at loggerheads with the military government since 1988 when she helped lead a pro-democracy uprising, which was brutally crushed by the government. A year after that she was put under house arrest. The order was lifted in 1995 but her movements have remained restricted. The government also refuses to honor the results of the 1990 general elections which her party won by a landslide.
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