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YANGON, May 2: Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will be released from house arrest within days after striking a deal with Myanmar’s military government, a senior opposition leader said on Thursday.
National League for Democracy (NLD) Vice Chairman Tin Oo told reporters at the opposition’s ramshackle headquarters in downtown Yangon that Suu Kyi was confident of being freed soon after meeting senior leaders of the ruling junta.
“We are expecting some definitely good news about Aung San Suu Kyi in days,” Tin Oo said.
But he added: “I don’t think she will be released today. For the time being she is under house arrest.”
Opposition sources said that while they were confident Suu Kyi would be freed after 18 months confined to her Yangon residence, some aspects of the deal had yet to be agreed.
Tin Oo met Suu Kyi on Wednesday along with NLD Chairman Aung Shwe and Secretary U Lwin.
Earlier she had been taken from her home for a secret meeting with a top military official, believed to be powerful military intelligence chief Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt.
“We think they talked about conditions on her movement after her release,” an opposition source told Reuters.
WORLD WAITING: The release of the 56-year-old Nobel peace laureate is among the top demands of the international community, which has isolated Myanmar and imposed economic sanctions on the impoverished country in a bid to force political change.
Suu Kyi has been confined to her lakeside home on University Avenue since September 2000 after defying orders not to travel outside the capital.
The NLD, led by Suu Kyi, won Myanmar’s last democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the ruling junta refused to hand over power. The military has ruled the country, formerly known as Burma, since 1962.
Suu Kyi spent six years in house arrest from 1989 to 1995. Her release in 1995 was marked with jubilant scenes as large crowds thronged the street outside her residence.
Diplomats say the junta wants to avoid a repeat, and has been trying to reach agreement with Suu Kyi that she will keep a low profile after her release. They said this may be a sticking point in the talks to secure her freedom.
A “No Entry” sign and barrier remained in place on University Avenue on Thursday, guarded by plainclothes police. Journalists who tried to approach were told to leave.
But the NLD headquarters, a tumbledown two-storey building festooned with pro-democracy slogans and paintings of Suu Kyi, was a hive of activity. Scores of opposition activists were crammed inside awaiting news.
SECRETIVE TALKS: Washington said this week it would welcome freedom for Suu Kyi but told the junta her release must be unconditional and would not automatically lead to a lifting of sanctions.
Human rights activists, too, were cautious.
“The international community shouldn’t rush to declare victory simply because she’s released,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.
The government began secretive talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000 and says it is serious about trying to reach a deal to break the country’s political deadlock.
Since the talks began, more than 200 political prisoners have been released.
But more than 1,500 are still believed to be behind bars, and the international community has grown increasingly impatient about the lack of concrete progress.
U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, who played a key role in brokering the reconciliation talks, said after a visit to Myanmar last week that he was confident of a political breakthrough soon.—Reuters
