Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi appears at protest in Burma

September 23, 2007 – (Telegraph.co.uk) A Buddhist monk in Burma has described how Aung San Suu Kyi came out of her home and paid her respects to monks protesting against the ruling military junta.

In an unprecedented move, armed guards allowed about 1,000 protesting monks past the roadblocks leading to the Nobel Peace Prize winner's house. She has been detained there for 12 of the past 18 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi has become an internationally recognised figurehead of the pro-democracy movement in Burma since her National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide. The military never accepted the result and the 62-year-old now has virtually no contact with the outside world.

The monks stopped outside her home for about 15 minutes and chanted a Buddhist prayer. Witnesses said Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear to speak to the monks. There was no interruption from about 20 uniformed security police, who had opened the roadblock. After the monks left the road was again closed.

One monk, who did not give his name, said "Today is extraordinary. We walked past lay disciple Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house today. We are pleased and glad to see her looking fit and well". "Daw" is a respectful term used in referring to older women.

The latest protest movement in Burma began on Aug 19 after the government raised fuel prices, but has its basis in underlying dissatisfaction with the repressive military regime.

The protests gained new life when the Buddhist monks joined. In the central city of Mandalay, a crowd of 10,000 people, including at least 4,000 monks, marched in one of the largest demonstrations since the 1988 democracy uprising, according to witnesses.

Aung Thu Nyein, a Thailand-based Burma analyst, called the encounter with Aung San Suu Kyi "a landmark event," but said the junta might be trying to appease the monks in hopes of taking the steam out of the protests. "It shows the junta is trying to calm down the monks and protesters," he said. "As the anti-junta movement has gained momentum, the junta is trying to take the heat out of the movement."

The unrest in Burma has raised concern in the international community and the Foreign Secretary David Miliband has pledged to bring up the issue at the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

 

From:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/22/wburma222.xml