Burma's opposition leader may be freed

Speculation mounted in Burma today that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be released from house arrest as a UN envoy spoke of an imminent breakthrough in his efforts to end the country’s political deadlock.

Burma’s military junta has kept Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi confined to her house since September 2000 after she defied the authorities by trying to travel outside Rangoon for a political meeting.

Today, municipal workers swept and cleaned the area around her lakeside residence in capital.

The activity was highly unusual as the barricaded street leading to Suu Kyi’s house has been left untended since her house arrest began.

Her possible release has become the most talked about outcome of a four day visit last week by UN special envoy Razali Ismail who has worked for the last two years to reconcile the opposition and the hard-nosed junta.

He said today there is immense expectation for the junta to release Suu Kyi, the widow of an Oxford don.

But he stopped short of saying that would happen, suggesting a major announcement expected shortly from the government could also be the release of political prisoners or further freedom for political activities.

‘‘The one that everyone expects would be the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,’’ Razali said in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. ‘‘I think something big will happen, something notable,’’ he said.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta took power in 1988 after crushing a nationwide uprising for democracy and killing thousands of people.

The generals called elections in 1990 but refused to step down after Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to the country.

Even if Suu Kyi, 56, is formally released it is unlikely that the junta will allow her to resume full political activity.

Since 1989 she has been under one form of restriction or another including a period of house arrest from 1989 to 1995.

Her two sons live in Britain and are rarely allowed to visit her and she was unable to travel to Oxford when her British husband died.