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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Agencies

UN envoy meets detained Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's opposition leader, is "well and in good spirits", the UN's special envoy to the country said today after becoming the first outsider to meet her since she was put under detention last week.

Razali Ismail, the envoy, told reporters after his hour long meeting with Ms Suu Kyi that, contrary to what had been feared, she had not been injured in the clash before her arrest.

"I can assure you she is well and in good spirits ... no injury on the face, arm. No injury. No scratch, nothing," he said.

But there was no indication from Burma's ruling military junta when she might be released.

Ms Suu Kyi was arrested on May 30 in the latest crackdown on her pro-democracy campaign when, according to the Rangoon regime, her motorcade tried to go through thousands of pro-government protesters and killed four people.

But exiled opposition figures in Thailand said pro-junta thugs started the violence, that as many as 70 people were killed and that Ms Suu Kyi may have received head injuries in the clash.

That version is partially backed up by the US state department, which says the May 30 clash appears to have been a premeditated ambush by pro-junta supporters that suggests the military government has ended efforts at national reconciliation.

A state department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said last week in a statement that officials of the US embassy in Rangoon had gone to the scene of the clashes to investigate.

"Circumstances and reports from individuals in the region indicated that the attack was conducted by government-affiliated thugs," he said.

Asked if Ms Suu Kyi talked about the incident, Mr Razali said: "She has her version and I have taken that into account. I have different reports of this and that."

Since the clash, the offices of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party have been shut and other party leaders are under house arrest.

Her detention has drawn sharp criticism from around the world and threats of more economic sanctions from the US. Ms Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent struggle for democracy, spent six years under house arrest in 1989-95.

Her party won general elections in 1990 but was blocked by the military from taking power.

Mr Razali left for his native Malaysia after meeting Ms Suu Kyi but said he would like to come back to Burma "as soon as possible".

The meeting was seen as a partial success for his five-day mission to secure her release.

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