Pressure mounts on Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

UNITED NATIONS, Friday (Reuters, AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi should be out promoting democracy and not under house arrest when she celebrates her 60th birthday this Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has spent nine of the last 16 years behind bars or under house arrest for campaigning against the military junta that has ruled the southeast Asian nation since 1962.

The leaders of the country formerly known as Burma refused to hand over power after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 election.

"It is unfortunate that she is celebrating under circumstances that one would not have wished for her, a leader of her party, and I wish she were out amongst the people and her supporters, pushing for stability and democracy and democratization of her society," Annan told reporters.

He urged Myanmar's leader, Gen. Than Shwe, "to release her and let her join her party and join the process of national dialogue and national reconciliation."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a statement demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.

"The United States looks forward to the day when Aung San Suu Kyi can celebrate her birthday in a democratic and free Burma," he said.

At the U.S. Senate, 200 Myanmar exiles and activists marked Suu Kyi's birthday with a reception featuring messages of solidarity from fellow Nobel laureates and leaders of states which recently overcame authoritarian rule.

"It is a travesty that you are not free, that others in your country are afraid of democracy, afraid of the will of people and afraid of you," said South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a video message to the Senate gathering.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, vowed to renew legislation maintaining sanctions against Myanmar.

In a message read by his ambassador, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili called for spreading to Myanmar the pro-Western "Rose Revolution that swept him into office in 2003 and inspired democrats in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

"Because your cause is our cause, wherever freedom-loving people rise up to carry on the legacy of the Rose Revolution, the spirit and support of the Georgian people stand with you," he said.

Meanwhile Malaysia's former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who while in power was an important ally of Myanmar's junta, on Friday called on the ruling generals to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mahathir, who engineered Myanmar's admittance into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the junta should not be afraid of the ramifications of freeing Aung San Suu Kyi or making other reforms.

"I fought hard for Myanmar to be admitted into ASEAN. I think the leaders of Myanmar should consider public opinion (in support of her release) and there is nothing they have to lose," he said.

"It is up to the government of Myanmar to decide. It would make things easier for everyone."

Mahathir said Myanmar's generals needed to be assured that if they moved towards democracy, they would not face prosecution

"Some guarantee must be given that no action will be taken against them," he said.

The Malaysian political strongman said however the world had to be patient with the regime which has drawn widespread criticism for its failure to end four decades of military rule.

"Democracy is not something that has been with us for millions of years. It is not normal at all, the normal way is autocracy and monarchy," he said.

Meanwhile Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters plan protests around the world to mark her 60th birthday Sunday, demonstrating outside Myanmar's embassies in a dozen countries to demand her release from two years' house arrest.

The woman known simply as "The Lady" will only be able to hear of the protests on her short-wave radio, one of the few links that she has with the outside world from her rambling lakeside home where she lives in isolation under 24-hour guard.

"We can demonstrate to Aung San Suu Kyi and to the military that there are a lot of people who support her," said Michele Keegan, one of scores of activists who plan to lock themselves indoors for 24 hours Sunday in solidarity.

"Basically what we're trying to do is show that it's not just a few small voices calling for her release, that there are a lot of people around the world, and in the region" who want her freed, Keegan said.

The so-called "Arrest Yourself" parties are planned in 16 countries - including Britain, France, Germany, Singapore, Spain and the United States - to raise awareness and money for Myanmar's pro-democracy struggle.

Other activists are taking to the streets in London, Paris, Seoul, New Dehli, Tokyo and a dozen other capitals to protest outside Myanmar's embassies.