Myanmar’s generals insist that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is safe and unhurt following a bloody clash involving her supporters, but they won’t reveal where she’s being detained or how long she’ll be held — despite concerns raised by world leaders and the United Nations.
As the international community demanded her immediate release, the military junta on Tuesday declined to say whether a UN envoy — scheduled to visit Myanmar this week — will be allowed to meet Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has not been seen in public since Friday when she was taken into what the government said was ”protective custody.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win told diplomats at a closed-door briefing in Yangon that she was being kept at a secure place in the aftermath of the clash between her supporters and thousands of pro-junta protesters in northern Myanmar.
The government said four people were killed and 50 injured in the violence.
Dissident groups, though, fear the death toll could be as high as 70 and that Suu Kyi may have suffered a head injury.
”Khin Maung Win reiterated that foreign media reports about Suu Kyi being injured during the violence were not true. He said she was not hurt at all,” a diplomat said on condition of anonymity after the briefing.
Khin Maung Win declined to give further details about her location or condition, the diplomat said. A government official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, earlier said Suu Kyi had been brought to Yangon.
The deputy foreign minister rejected allegations that military personnel were involved in Friday’s clash. Earlier the government denied reports that Suu Kyi’s car had come under fire.
The events of the past few days appear to have imperiled UN attempts to broker lasting reconciliation between the military and Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest last year.
Despite this, Khin Maung Win said UN special envoy Razali Ismail — who previously arranged dialogue between the two camps — will be ”free to come” on a scheduled visit to Myanmar starting on Friday.
But he declined to ”give assurances” that Razali would be able to meet Suu Kyi.
Universities and colleges have been closed since Suu Kyi’s arrest. But Khin Maung Win denied this was linked to Friday’s unrest or her detention.
US President George Bush said in a statement issued by the White House that he was ”deeply concerned” about the situation in Myanmar.
”The military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters immediately, and permit her party headquarters to reopen,” Bush said.
”We have urged Burmese officials to release all political prisoners and to offer their people a better way of life, a life offering freedom and economic progress.”
Myanmar is also known as Burma.
Calls for Suu Kyi’s release also flooded in from the European Union, Britain, Australia and Japan.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanded that Suu Kyi be immediately released and ”allowed to play a role” in the country’s
reconciliation process.
The junta’s crackdown has turned back the clock on that effort to reconcile the opposition and the generals, who in 1990 barred Suu Kyi’s party from taking power after it won elections.
It is also likely that international aid — shut off since the junta took power in 1988 by violently suppressing pro-democracy protests — won’t flow any time soon to the impoverished nation.
Even those in Asia who have advocated encouraging the junta to allow reform rather than forcing it appeared worried.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said ”the whole world” is concerned about Suu Kyi’s detention, and called on the junta to bring the situation ”back to normal”.
”A democratic solution, a solution through dialogue, is needed.
I don’t think the current situation is good,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
Japan is Myanmar’s main source of foreign aid. The UN special envoy, Razali, has backed ”constructive engagement” with the generals to promote reform, and in late 2001 the envoy brokered closed-door talks between the government and Suu Kyi. That led to Suu Kyi’s release in May 2002 from 19 months under house arrest.
Several hundred political prisoners were freed. Suu Kyi — who was also under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 — was allowed freedom of movement previously denied to her. But the process came to a standstill last year.
The generals claim Suu Kyi’s supporters instigated the clash in the north during a political tour of the region, which has drawn thousands of well-wishers.
However, exile opposition groups maintain Suu Kyi’s motorcade was ambushed by government-backed thugs and the military. Tight controls on the media and the remote location of the incident make it difficult to verify any information. – Sapa-AP