ANNAN CALLS FOR RELEASE OF SUU KYI

August 17, 2004 - (AP) U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Tuesday for the immediate release of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, urging the government to show a commitment to restoring democracy.

Annan warned that Myanmar's efforts to draft a new constitution will lack international credibility until the government considers opposition views. On July 9, Myanmar adjourned a constitution-drafting convention after nearly two months of closed-door discussions. It is unclear when it will resume.

The convention, which began May 17, was billed by the junta as a first step toward restoring democracy, but has been dismissed by the opposition as a sham. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, or NLD, boycotted the convention because the government refuses to release her from house arrest.

Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been in detention since May 2003, when the military cracked down on her party after a violent clash between her followers and government supporters. The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power by the junta, which seized control in 1988 after brutally suppressing mass pro-democracy protests.

From: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=10&u=/ap/20040818/ap_on_re_as/un_myanmar