Burma's junta dismisses Suu Kyi hunger strike report
Burma’s military government dismissed as “quite odd” today a US government claim that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was on hunger strike in protest at her continued detention.
The US State Department had said it was “deeply concerned” for the health of Suu Kyi, claiming she has launched a hunger strike in detention. It did not say where it obtained that information.
"The Burmese government “as well as governments around the world are confused and we firmly believe it is quite odd for the United States State Department to make such a claim without stating any sources to verify its allegation”, a junta statement said.
It said Burma authorities shared “the US view that governments are fully responsible for the welfare of all its political prisoners”. But the government was responsible not only for Suu Kyi’s welfare, but also that of the country’s 52 million people, it added.
Suu Kyi was arrested on May 30 following a bloody confrontation between her followers and the regime’s supporters in northern Burma. The government has claimed she was detained for her own protection and for the sake of national stability.
Her detention and the arrest of senior members of her National League for Democracy party triggered international outrage with the United States imposing tougher economic sanctions.
The government refuses to say where she is being held or how long she will stay in detention.
Alfredo Mallet, deputy representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Rangoon, said he could not confirm the news of the hunger strike since his office has not met Suu Kyi since July 28.
The “ICRC is trying to continue visiting her but there is no concrete information about the hunger strike. We will make an attempt to visit her and those attempts will be made even if there are no rumours of a hunger strike. We will know about it when we see her again,” he told The Associated Press.
On Saturday, Burma’s newly-appointed prime minister, Gen Khin Nyunt, announced a “road map” to national elections and a new government, but made no offers to hold talks with Suu Kyi. He also gave no timetable for the promised “free and fair” elections.
The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It called elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi’s NLD won.
The government called a National Convention to work on guidelines for a new constitution, but it was suspended in 1996 after the NLD walked out, saying it was being forced to rubber-stamp decisions made by the military.
Since 1990, Suu Kyi has been kept under varying periods of house arrest. Her latest detention has ground to a halt the reconciliation talks she had begun with the junta in October 2000.
