YANGON, Oct 2: Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told visiting UN envoy Razali Ismail that she was willing to work with the ruling junta on a new national reconciliation process, diplomats said on Thursday.

But in meetings with the ruling generals, Razali was given no indication of when the 58-year-old Nobel peace laureate or other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) will be freed from house arrest.

“Aung San Suu Kyi told him that she wanted to be released with the others. She doesn’t want to be the focus of attention on a one-off release,” said a Western diplomat who attended a briefing by Razali, who departed Thursday.

Before being returned for the third time to house arrest last week, the opposition leader was held at a secret location for nearly four months after she was taken into custody May 30 in a crack-down which saw the entire NLD leadership put under detention.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections that were never recognised by the regime, was arrested after her supporters were brutally ambushed by a pro-junta mob during a political tour of northern Myanmar.

She was admitted to hospital on September 17 for major gynaecological surgery, and Razali said she was now “well and strong” but would need another month to recuperate.

Myanmar’s junta is under intense international pressure to free the democracy campaigner before a Southeast Asian summit next week that risks being overshadowed by the issue.

But Razali’s prospects of winning her release were always remote, and his three-day mission was predominantly focused on reviving a political reconciliation process to end four decades of military rule in Myanmar.

Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt last month unveiled a seven-point “roadmap” to democracy in the military-run state, which includes free and fair elections to be held under a new constitution.—AFP