Suu Kyi party seeks meeting of detained leaders

Suu Kyi party seeks meeting of detained leaders
Tue Sep 22, 3:31 am ET

YANGON (AFP) – The party of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday it had urged the chief of the ruling junta to allow a meeting between its detained leaders so they can discuss upcoming elections.

The Nobel Laureate's National League for Democracy (NLD) has not yet said if it will participate in next year's polls, which critics say are a sham designed to legitimise the military regime's iron grip on power.

"We wrote a letter to Senior General Than Shwe on September 16," party spokesman Nyan Win told AFP, referring to the reclusive junta leader.

"The main thing we urged for is permission for a get-together of the detained party leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin Oo (vice chairman) and our central executive committee members," he said.

He said they wanted to lay down NLD policy for the future and make "important decisions according to the recent political situation."



"I cannot say whether they will decide for (participating in) the forthcoming elections or not. But the elections matter will be included in their consideration at the meeting," Nyan Win said.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the country's last elections, in 1990, but was never allowed to govern, and pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years.

She had her house arrest extended by 18 months in August, when she was found guilty of breaching her detention rules after an American man swam uninvited to her home in May.

Her sentence, which keeps her off the scene for the elections, provoked international outrage and she has appealed against the ruling, with a verdict due in October.

Tin Oo has also been under house arrest since 2003.

Myanmar's military government announced that it would hold the elections in 2010 after approving a controversial constitution in May 2008, just days after devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country.

The junta released a batch of political activists earlier this month as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, but UN chief Ban Ki-moon has pressed the government to free those still being held, including Suu Kyi.