UN Secretary Repeats Call for Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon repeated his call yesterday for the release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after the Burmese junta extended her detention once again.

A UN Secretary-General spokesperson said in a statement that Ban Ki-Moon strongly believes that the sooner restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Burma will be able to move towards inclusive national reconciliation, and the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights.

Ms. Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been held for 11 of the 17 years since the military crackdown in 1988. She has been under house arrest without charge or trial.

The decision to extend her detention was handed down despite Mr. Ban's direct appeal to the Southeast Asian nation's senior leadership, as well as numerous global calls for the release of the democratically elected Suu Kyi.

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon is determined to continue working towards tangible progress in Burma through the use of his good office's mandate as entrusted to him by the General Assembly, and has instructed his newly-appointed Special Advisor for the country, Ibrahim Gambari, to engage the government and its citizens in a dialogue, according to the statement.

In Burma, there are over 1,000 known political prisoners being held in several prisons across the country.

Many countries, including the USA and the UK, as well as EU members, have denounced the extension of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's detention for another year and demanded that she be released. #