| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Myanmar slams U.S. sanctions
YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar has hit out at tough new sanctions imposed on the Southeast Asian nation by the United States. The response comes on the same day that Red Cross officials said detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health and high spirits. Myanmar's military rulers allowed the officials to meet with her Monday morning. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been held since her supporters clashed with a pro-government group at the end of May. World leaders, including the United States, have been calling for her release. "I can confirm that I was able to meet with Suu yesterday morning in the place where she was detained, and had a private talk with her," Michel Ducreaux of the International Committee of the Red Cross told CNN. The discussion with the pro-democracy leader focused on the general conditions of detention. "I will unfortunately not be able to elaborate a lot on what was the exchange of views," Ducreaux said. "This is a confidential matter, but what I can tell you is that she in good health. She was not injured during the event." Meanwhile, Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung -- attending a meeting between Asian and African officials in Indonesia -- lashed out a sweeping trade ban against Myanmar, signed Monday by U.S. President George W. Bush. "Sanctions are one-sided, unilateral actions taken by some without any regard for the people," Wing Aung told reporters Tuesday. The move by the U.S. comes amid growing international concern over the whereabouts of Suu Kyi and her general well-being following her detention on May 30 after a clash in the north of the country between a crowd of supporters and a pro-government gang. Pressure grows for Suu Kyi release
The Red Cross had been pushing to see the democracy leader as international pressure mounts for her release. Suu Kyi's location is unknown and some reports, rejected by the Myanmar government, have said she is being held at the notorious Insein jail outside of the capital, Yangon. Win Aung said Suu Kyi would not be held indefinitely but did not give a time frame for her release. "We are not wanting any kind of destabilization of the nation," he said. Myanmar's ruling military junta blame Suu Kyi for whipping up the May 30 clash. The U.S. bill bans imports from Myanmar, freezes the assets of senior officials and prohibits virtually all remittances to the country. "By denying these rulers the hard currency they use to fund their repression, we are providing strong incentives for democratic change and human rights in Burma [Myanmar]," Bush said in a statement Monday after signing the bill. The world should make clear, he added, through word and deed that the people of Myanmar deserve "to live in dignity and freedom under leaders of their own choosing." Human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the move and called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi. "Sustained and concerted efforts on the part of the international community should continue until these problems are solved. The people of Myanmar must not be forgotten," the group said in a statement Tuesday. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a sweeping victory in a general election in 1990, but Myanmar's military rulers refused to recognize the vote and held on to power.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
