Japan threat to stop aid over Suu Kyi

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is growing “increasingly alarmed” about Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a UN envoy said yesterday, as Japan added to growing international pressure by saying it would halt its hefty economic aid unless Suu Kyi is freed.

"The UN, the Secretary-General, and a lot of people there are increasingly alarmed about the situation," special UN envoy Ismail Razali told reporters in Tokyo.

Razali, who met with Suu Kyi on June 10, said when he left Myanmar, he had sought specific assurances about her release which he did not get. "I had said then that in one week or two weeks, one might expect that she would be released," he said.

Earlier, a senior Japanese government official told reporters that Tokyo had informed the Myanmar government that aid would be halted if it refused to release Suu Kyi.

"First of all, we want the early release of Suu Kyi. Under the current circumstances we will not extend economic assistance," the official, who declined to be identified, told reporters. "This is Japan's policy and we have said this to the Myanmar government."

The move by one of Myanmar's biggest aid donors and a country that has been relatively willing to engage with Yangon is likely to have even greater weight than strong criticism of Suu Kyi's detention by the US and Britain.