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| Southeast Asia |
| Myanmar Says Suu Kyi in Protective Custody |
| 2003-06-15 |
| Myanmar's foreign minister said Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi is being kept in custody to protect her from a possible assassination attempt, and added that no time frame can be given for the pro-democracy leader's release. "And who would know better than us, the generals, that she's in danger?" Foreign Minister Win Aung refused to say who the possible assassins would be or why they would want to target Suu Kyi. ``We have heard there were assassins coming in the country. I don't know who their target will be, our leaders or ...,'' the minister told reporters in Phnom Penh where he will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference beginning Monday. But if ``anything happened to her it will be blamed on us.'' Well natch. Suu Kyi was detained on May 30 after a clash between her supporters and a pro-government crowd in northern Myanmar. She has been kept incommunicado since then, jeopardizing the reconciliation process to end the country's 15-year-old political deadlock. But Win Aung said Suu Kyi is not in detention but in custody to make sure that she comes to no ``personal harm,'' adding the government never had any ``intention of "Of course, she's the sister who should be home making babies and spinning yarn." Win Aung also said, the government could not give a date for her release. ``Don't press us to commit ourselves to a timeframe and date of releasing her ... the important thing is that the will (to free her) is there,'' he said. "... in about thirty years. But don't press me on that." On Saturday, Myanmar's state-run press blamed Suu Kyi for the May 30 clash that led to her detention, and said the violence showed she was incapable of running the country. The government says members of Suu Kyi's party instigated the violence when her motorcade was confronted by thousands of military supporters. Oh sure, my unarmed, peaceful supporters would always confront a bunch of military thugs with weapons. But opposition accounts say pro-government thugs ambushed Suu Kyi's motorcade, stabbing and beating her followers. Her detention has evoked an international outcry from world leaders including President Bush and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan who have demanded her release. The foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations At which time nothing will happen. |
| Posted by:Steve White |