KEVIN RUDD could be flying into a diplomatic storm in Burma, with the dictatorial regime banning the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from meeting with ''foreign organisations''.
Mr Rudd touched down in Burma last night and is due to meet Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, tomorrow.
He is also scheduled to meet Burma's President, Thein Sein, the foreign minister and speaker of the parliament.
''A meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi remains part of the minister's schedule,'' a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said last night from Burma's largest city, Rangoon.
However, reports this week in the regime's Burmese language newspaper suggest Ms Suu Kyi could be stopped from meeting any foreign officials.
Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest in November and immediately called for a ''peaceful revolution'' in Burma, which is ruled by a nominally civilian government that is stacked with members of the former junta.
She recently announced plans to tour the country and meet with supporters of her National League for Democracy party, repressed by the junta since it won elections in 1990, but the regime is tightening the screws on the 66-year-old.
This week the regime told Ms Suu Kyi to halt all political activities and warned the proposed tour could spark riots, for which she would be held responsible. The last time she campaigned outside Rangoon, in 2003, her convoy was set upon by government-backed thugs.
Now the regime, possibly spooked by Ms Suu Kyi's recent meetings with foreign officials such as the Japanese vice-foreign minister and former US presidential candidate John McCain, has threatened to halt the procession of foreign dignitaries trying to meet the democracy icon.
An editorial in the regime's newspaper, translated for the Herald by Burmese activists in Australia, accused the NLD of violating the ban on its activities.
''A meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi remains part of the minister's schedule,'' a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said last night from Burma's largest city, Rangoon.
However, reports this week in the regime's Burmese language newspaper suggest Ms Suu Kyi could be stopped from meeting any foreign officials.
Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest in November and immediately called for a ''peaceful revolution'' in Burma, which is ruled by a nominally civilian government that is stacked with members of the former junta.
She recently announced plans to tour the country and meet with supporters of her National League for Democracy party, repressed by the junta since it won elections in 1990, but the regime is tightening the screws on the 66-year-old.
This week the regime told Ms Suu Kyi to halt all political activities and warned the proposed tour could spark riots, for which she would be held responsible. The last time she campaigned outside Rangoon, in 2003, her convoy was set upon by government-backed thugs.
Now the regime, possibly spooked by Ms Suu Kyi's recent meetings with foreign officials such as the Japanese vice-foreign minister and former US presidential candidate John McCain, has threatened to halt the procession of foreign dignitaries trying to meet the democracy icon.
An editorial in the regime's newspaper, translated for the Herald by Burmese activists in Australia, accused the NLD of violating the ban on its activities.
No comments:
Post a Comment