| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written a personal letter to Aung San Suu Kyi, pledging his ongoing support for Myanmar's pro-democracy icon and praising her courage.
Brown also reiterated his call for Myanmar's military rulers to ensure elections promised for 2010 were free and fair, warning anything less would condemn the impoverished country to more hardship and isolation.
"If the scheduled elections proceed under a rigged constitution, with opposition leaders excluded and with no international oversight, the military rulers will be condemning (Myanmar) to more years of diplomatic isolation and economic stagnation," he said in the letter released by Downing Street Tuesday.
The premier said Britain stood "immovably" with the Nobel peace laureate, and urged the military government to start a "genuine dialogue" with her.
"Your continuing detention is only the most visible evidence of the bad faith of (the military government,) which has so far shown no signs of listening to regional or international calls for an end to its violent behaviour," he said.
"I continue to call upon the (military government) to engage with you and allow you further contact with diplomats in Rangoon, and to start a genuine dialogue that can give the (people of Myanmar) back their future and their hope," he said.
Brown's letter has been passed to authorities in Myanmar - which has been under military rule since 1962 - by the British embassy in Yangon.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been locked up for 14 of the past 20 years and was ordered in August to spend another 18 months in detention after being convicted over an incident in which an American man swam to her house.
The extension of her detention sparked international outrage as it effectively keeps her off the stage for the elections promised by the government some time in 2010.
If the polls go ahead they will be the first since 1990, when the military government refused to recognise her party's landslide victory.
- AFP/yb
|
