Suu Kyi fails to pick up food delivery in Myanmar - International Herald Tribune

International Herald Tribune

Suu Kyi fails to pick up food delivery in Myanmar
The Associated PressPublished: August 26, 2008



YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi rejected food delivered to her home amid speculation that she launched a hunger strike to protest the government's refusal to hold talks on democratic reforms.

Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy, said Tuesday he could not confirm whether Suu Kyi was refusing to eat, but said bags of food delivered Monday to a checkpoint outside her heavily guarded house were not picked up.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years, and she relies on the NLD's food deliveries for survival. It remains unclear whether Suu Kyi has launched a hunger strike — since her supporters are barred from meeting her.



Nyo Ohn Myint, head of foreign affairs for the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area), which is based in neighboring Thailand, said Suu Kyi has refused the food deliveries since Aug. 15 and will continue doing so until her demands are met.

But he could not say whether that constitutes a hunger strike, since his group has no direct contact with the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

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Suu Kyi told the regime that she wants a resumption of talks with the government on national reconciliation, the installation of a satellite dish in her house and the freedom for her personal assistant, Khin Win, to leave whenever she wants.

It is unclear how Suu Kyi communicated her demands to the regime or passed messages to her party.

"If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi continues to refuse food from her comrades, her health will be of serious concern," the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area), said in a statement.

"Two people living with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are also refusing food. The international community's immediate action is necessary," it said.

The news comes after Suu Kyi repeatedly canceled meetings with U.N. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his six-day visit to Myanmar that ended Saturday. He left without seeing her.

Since refusing to see Gambari, supporters have speculated that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has grown more frustrated with the United Nations' failure to bring about change in the military-ruled nation.

On Sunday, Nyan Win said Gambari had wasted his time in Myanmar. He also criticized the U.N. envoy for failing to meet the country's leader, Gen. Than Shwe, and for being unable to get any commitment from the junta to start talks with the opposition on national reconciliation.

Nyan Win also castigated Gambari for offering to help the junta prepare for planned 2010 elections.

Suu Kyi's party has criticized the planned polls, which follow a constitutional referendum earlier this year that critics say was neither free nor fair. The new constitution guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military, and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been in a political deadlock since 1990, when Suu Kyi's party overwhelmingly won general elections but was not allowed to take power by the military junta.

The United Nations has tried with little success to nudge the regime toward talks with the opposition, hoping the top generals would respond to international pressure to embrace national reconciliation following its violent suppression of massive, anti-government protests in Yangon last year.

In October, the regime did appoint retired Maj. Gen. Aung Kyi, the labor minister, as the government liaison to Suu Kyi. The two held five meetings but have not met since January.