Nobel peace laureates speak out for Aung San Suu Kyi

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081211/wl_asia_afp/healthfrancerussiagorbachev_081211165202

Thu Dec 11, 11:52 am ET AFP – Activists displays banners with portraits of Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi … PARIS (AFP) – Nobel peace laureates opened a summit in Paris Thursday to draw world attention to the plight of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, but former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was forced to miss the gathering.

Gorbachev, whose foundation is co-hosting the three-day gathering with the city of Paris, was suffering from ill health and unable to travel.

Meeting a day after former Finnish president Martii Ahtisaari received this year's prestigious prize, the dozen Nobel laureates were also to present an award to Irish rocker-turned-activist Bono for his crusade against poverty.

Gorbachev, 77, was to join former leaders F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, Lech Walesa of Poland and Northern Ireland politician John Hume for the annual gathering, held in Paris.


"I regret to inform you that doctors have forbidden me to travel," Gorbachev said in a message read to delegates. "I hope that everything will be all right."

Italian opposition leader Walter Veltroni described his health problem as "minor".

Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, a year after the Berlin Wall fell, marking a turning point in East-West relations that paved the way for the reunification of Germany.

The Paris summit focuses on the theme "human rights and a world without violence" amid celebrations marking 60 years since the UN declaration of human rights was adopted in Paris.

Nobel laureates are launching an international appeal to free Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the prize in 1991, and has been detained for most of the past two decades.

Myanmar's military junta has kept her mostly isolated from the outside world, only receiving visits from her doctor and lawyer.

Last week, more than 100 former leaders wrote to UN chief Ban Ki-moon urging him to travel to Myanmar to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

But the UN secretary general has ruled out a visit and expressed frustration at the military regime's failure to take steps toward dialogue with the opposition.

Ban visited Myanmar in May after its military rulers came under international fire for not allowing foreign aid in after a cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing.

On Friday, the Nobel laureates are to pay tribute to Bono for his campaign to win debt relief for African countries and eradicating poverty.

Last year's recipients of the Peace Summit Award were US actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle, who have spoken out against the violence in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.