Suppressing Burma's 'beacon'

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By Richard S. Ehrlich

BANGKOK

Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the world's most famous political prisoners, completes 13 years under house arrest on Friday, refusing to leave Burma for freedom in self-exile because she fears the military regime would block her future return.

Mrs. Suu Kyi, 63, remains in her mildewing, two-story villa, which offers a spacious garden nestling along a lake in Burma's largest city, Rangoon, also known as Yangon.

Her gated home has faltering electricity, and she depends on a drip-feed of contact with the outside world.

"On Friday, October 24th, Aung San Suu Kyi will have spent a total of 13 years in detention," announced Britain's Burma Campaign, an activist group that called on foreign leaders, and the public, to demand she be freed along with "all political prisoners" in Burma.

In Washington, the State Department called Mrs. Suu Kyi "a steady beacon of hope and inspiration to those seeking a peaceful, democratic Burma" and called upon the Burmese regime to "immediately and unconditionally" release her and the more than 2000 political prisoners it holds.

Noting that Oct. 24 also marks the anniversary of the coming into force of the U.N. charter, department spokesman Robert Wood said Washington supports U.N. efforts under the leadership of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to obtain the release of Burma´s political prisoners and encourage Burma to move toward democracy.

"Releasing Aung San Suu Kyi would be a first step toward Burma´s reintegration into the world community," he said. "We further join the United Nations and the rest of the international community in calling upon the regime to engage credibly in an inclusive, time-bound dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic and ethnic minority leaders to bring about a genuine democratic transition."

The U.S. Campaign for Burma called for a demonstration at 5 p.m. Friday outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington because China is the main supporter of Burma's regime and blocks U.N. action to restore democracy.

In foreign countries, her depressed supporters can do little in public except to wear Suu Kyi face masks during protests to mark the day, while airing news about their plight via magazines, Web sites, radio broadcasts and other international media.