Britain calls for strong response on Suu Kyi

HANOI: British junior foreign minister Bill Rammell Monday urged Asian and European officials meeting here to issue a "very strong statement" condemning the trial of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

The two-day ASEM (Asia-Europe) Foreign Ministers' Meeting was expected to focus on the global financial crisis, but diplomats had said the trial of the Nobel Peace Prize winner could spark informal discussions about Myanmar.

"In the face of Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest and trial, I think we need the strongest possible international response," Rammell told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting in Vietnam.

"And we need nothing less from the ASEM conference in the next couple of days."

Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial on charges of violating her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam to her house. She faces up to five years in jail.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has come under pressure from the United States and the European Union to exert its influence on Myanmar, which has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the past 19 years.

Rammell said the United Nations and the European Union had issued a clear statement about the ongoing trial, adding he "very much welcomed" a statement from ASEAN, which expressed the bloc's "grave concern."

But he urged Asian and European ministers to issue a "very strong statement of opposition to Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest and trial, a call for her release from detention... and the strongest possible call from ASEM that Aung San Suu Kyi's release has to be the start of a process of political reconciliation."

Monday, AFP