September 04, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 3, 1429

YANGON, Sept 3: Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to meet the junta's liaison officer and declined a visit from her personal physician, state media said on Wednesday.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years, but in recent weeks has refused even the minimal contact that the regime allows her with the outside world.

The military had arranged for her to meet on Tuesday Labour Minister Aung Kyi, who is tasked with coordinating official talks with her, the government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar said.

But she informed her lawyer Kyi Win during a meeting on Monday that she would not speak with the minister, and also refused to see her doctor who had been set to give her a medical check-up, the paper said.

“For the time being, she wanted to meet no one, except advocate U Kyi Win,” the paper said.

The talks with the liaison officer had been arranged at the request of the United Nations, following the visit of UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari last month, it added.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, refused to meet Gambari during his six-day mission here. He was also shunned by the junta leader Than Shwe, who did not even invite the envoy to visit the capital Naypyidaw.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party has been at a loss to explain her actions, but analysts have said that she could be protesting the dialogue with the regime, which has yielded no tangible results.

The NLD has said that Aung San Suu Kyi has stopped collecting her food supplies, but stressed that the circumstances were unclear and has not called her actions a hunger strike.

Lawyer Kyi Win said after his meeting with her on Monday that she had lost weight but seemed to be feeling well.

He said they discussed a planned appeal of her current detention, which began more than five years ago.

She has met with her lawyer three times over the last month. Before August, she had not been allowed to see him since 2004.

The NLD won elections in 1990, but has never been allowed to take office.

The regime now says it is preparing new polls for 2010 under a new constitution, which the party says will merely entrench military rule.—AFP