March 18, 1999
Web posted at: 8:42 a.m. EDT (0842 GMT)

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The military government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, said Thursday it was reviewing a visa request by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's British husband, who is suffering from prostate cancer.

But while the government, in a news release, expressed "great sadness" about the illness of Michael Aris, an Oxford academic, it also appeared unlikely the visa request would be granted.

"The government of Myanmar suggests that Ms. Suu Kyi, who is in perfect health, travel to England to respond to her husband's dying wish to see her. She has so far refused to go," it said.

The military has long sought a way to get Suu Kyi, the most prominent dissident to challenge the military rulers, out of the country.

The military regime took power in 1988 after violently suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations. It refused to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy after the party won a landslide victory in a general election in 1990.

Won Nobel Peace Prize

Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her courage in standing up to the military, has not left for the past 11 years. She fears she will not be allowed back should she leave the country.

Myanmar's military government hesitates to issue a visa to Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris

"Dr. Aris has requested a visa to visit Myanmar to see his wife, which the government is currently reviewing," the government said Thursday.

"To undertake a trip to Myanmar under such (difficult medical) conditions... would appear to be both irresponsible and inhumane, and the government is reluctant to encourage or endorse such an action," the statement said.

Aris and Suu Kyi have not seen each other since mid-1995, shortly after she was released from six years of house arrest.

Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy, said Suu Kyi was very worried about her husband but could not leave Myanmar.

"The lady has been working hard for democracy, for the people and the party, she is worried about him, but she will never leave the country because she knows that if she does the military regime will never allow her to return."

He said Aris and Suu Kyi, who have been married 27 years and have two adult sons, talk once a week by telephone.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the capital Yangon described the matter as "a humanitarian issue," and said there was strong hope in the diplomatic community that the authorities would issue a visa.

Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar's martyred independence hero, Gen. Aung San.

Correspondent John Raedler,The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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RELATED SITES:

FreeBurma.org
Free Burma
Permanent Mission of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations
Aung San Suu Kyi Winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Peace - Nobel Prize Internet Archive
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - from the Free Burma Coalition
Burma - CIA World Factbook

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