UN bids to get freedom for Suu Kyi

A UN special envoy arrived in Burma today on a mission to revive a national reconciliation process and to secure the immediate release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Razali Ismail, sent by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is credited with launching closed-door talks between the opposition leader and the ruling military junta nearly three years ago.

The former Malaysian diplomat last visited Burma in June, just days after Suu Kyi was arrested following a violent clash between members of her entourage and a government-backed mob in the country’s north.

Razali was the first outsider to see Suu Kyi after the incident and it is widely anticipated the envoy will be allowed to see her again during his three day visit.

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and widow of an Oxford don, was released from hospital on Friday after undergoing what the junta said was a major gynaecological operation.

She is now under house arrest in the capital Rangoon for the third time since 1989.

The junta has said Suu Kyi will be freed but have not specified a date.

Burma’s military seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It held elections in 1990, but refused to recognise the results after Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won.

Suu Kyi’s doctor has been allowed to visit her daily, but security officials have turned down requests from US and European diplomats to meet with her.