Low-key celebrations for Suu Kyi birthday

Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 61st birthday today still under house arrest as the military government beefed up security outside the barricaded home of Burma’s pro-democracy leader.

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners, has spent 10 of the last 17 years in confinement.

Police blocked the road leading to Suu Kyi’s lakeside residence compound in the capital, Rangoon, last night, barring traffic from driving past her home, a resident of the compound said.

Dozens of guards were posted at a checkpoint, and barbed-wire barricades were set up near her home.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party marked her birthday at its headquarters, several miles from her home.

Supporters released nine doves and hundreds of coloured balloons into the sky, while many shouted: “Good health for Aung San Suu Kyi!”

Letters urging her freedom were attached to the balloons.

The military junta, fearing Suu Kyi’s political strength and popularity, most recently detained her in 2003 after a pro-government mob attacked her entourage while she was on a political tour of northern Burma. She was held first by the military, then transferred to house arrest.

Under strict watch in a home with two housekeepers, Suu Kyi is allowed virtually no contact with the outside world, although last month a senior UN official was allowed a rare visit. The meeting stirred hopes that the regime was considering releasing her.

But hopes were dashed when the government extended her house arrest on May 27 for another year.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and world leaders, including US President George Bush, have called for her freedom.

Burma’s junta took power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in the country.

In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi’s party won a general election by a landslide.

Suu Kyi’s father was the country’s martyred independence hero, Gen Aung San, a legacy that adds to her popularity.