PARIS, Dec 12: Nobel peace laureates urged Europe and the United Nations on Friday to push harder to bring about national reconciliation in Myanmar and the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We are here today to remind the world of her courage and of the strength of this woman who has been unceasingly fighting for the freedom of her people,” said a text read by Northern Ireland peace campaigner Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

Suu Kyi, 63, who won the Nobel prize in 1991, has been detained for most of the past two decades, mostly isolated from the outside world, only receiving visits from her doctor and lawyer.

Maguire was meeting in Paris with fellow Nobel peace prize winners Betty Williams and John Hume of Northern Ireland, F.W. de Klerk of South Africa and Lech Walesa of Poland.

Together, they called on European leaders and institutions and the United Nations to “do their utmost to achieve the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.”

They also urged world leaders to “force the Burma regime to start a peaceful reconciliation process in order to restore democracy and respect for fundamental human rights in this country.”

In their declaration, the laureates voiced concern that the process of reconciliation launched in Myanmar by the United Nations after the political unrest of September 2007, was at a standstill.

“We feel at risk of losing a precious opportunity for peace in Burma,” they said.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose foundation co-organised the Paris event but who was unable to attend for medical reasons, sent a message voicing his support for a global campaign in favour of Suu Kyi’s release.

Irish rocker-turned-activist Bono, speaking after receiving an annual peace award from the laureates for his global crusade to tackle poverty and disease, paid tribute to Suu Kyi in her absence.

“We should acknowledge the Nobel laureate who should be here, but is not here. That is Aung San Suu Kyi,” said the U2 frontman, whose 2001 single ‘Walk On’ was dedicated to the Myanmar democracy icon.

“We have to tell her and send out a message of love. She is still not able to move freely, and we look forward to the day when she will be.”

The Nobel winners were meeting in Paris for a three-day annual summit, coinciding with celebrations marking 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in the French capital.—AFP