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Aung San Suu Kyi *IS* Free! (#4 -oo



Subject: Aung San Suu Kyi *IS* Free! (#4 -oops)

AND from the AP wire:

   By AYE AYE WIN
 Associated Press Writer
   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- The champion of Burma's democracy movement, Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was freed from her almost six-year-long house arrest Monday,
awakening hopes that the military junta might be easing its lock on power.
   Several hundred colleagues, supporters and journalists gathered in a light rain outside Mrs.
Suu Kyi's lakeside home in Rangoon as the unofficial news of her new freedom spread. She
said through a security guard that she did not immediately want to talk to the media.
   The release was greeted by dissidents, human rights activists and foreign leaders as a
sign that the military leadership of Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, might be moving
toward democracy.
   President Clinton welcomed the news in a statement Monday.
   "If her release enables her to participate freely in a genuine process of political
reconciliation leading to the installation of a democratically elected government, today's
development would mark a major milestone towards the restoration of peace and stability in
Burma," he said.
   But Clinton expressed concern about "serious and unresolved human rights problems in
Burma," including the continued detention of other political opponents, the failure to permit the
International Red Cross to visit prisoners and the "ongoing military campaigns against a
number of ethnic groups."
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's supporters and associates in Rangoon were ecstatic.
   "What more can I say? I am very happy. The country is happy," said Gen. Tin Oo, former
defense minister and one-time chairman of Mrs. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.  
Mrs. Suu Kyi, 50, would have completed her sentence July 19. She was placed under house
arrest in 1989 for leading a pro-democracy uprising that the military brutally repressed.
   Authorities had hinted recently that they might extend her sentence, and her release came
as a surprise. An official source told The Associated Press of the release Monday afternoon,
and the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, confirmed the release early Tuesday.
   "The order to restrict Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi to her compound has been revoked as of
today," said a statement dated Monday.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, said in Oxford, England that he was still awaiting
confirmation of her release, and declined further comment. A professor at Oxford, he lives
with the couple's sons, Alexander and Kim.
   Amnesty International, in a statement from its London headquarters, said it hoped Mrs. Suu
Kyi's freedom "marks the beginning of a new policy to fundamentally improve Myanmar's
human rights record."
   The military seized power in Burma in 1988 after killing hundreds of people to quell a
pro-democracy uprising led by Mrs. Suu Kyi. She was arrested the next year for allegedly
inciting unrest.
   The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 1990 general elections, but
the military refused to honor the results, and has suppressed virtually all dissent.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi had advocated non-violent resistance invoking the name of India's Mohandas
Gandhi and that of her father, Burmese independence leader Aung San. In 1991, she won the
Nobel Peace Prize.
   During her detention, she refused offers of freedom in exchange for exile and remained
steadfastly committed to democracy. She also remained the symbol of the pro-democracy
movement, referred to in reverential whispers as "the Lady."
   "This news gives more hope for us in fighting for more democracy," said So Aung, a
spokesman for the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, a group of exiles in Thailand.
"When she comes out, she can do many things for people."
   The military government seemed likely to reap international political benefits from her
release, already reflected Monday in statements from across the world.
   The French Foreign Ministry said the release "allows the chance to resume dialogue with
Burma." Japan, a major investor, called the release "an important advance for Myanmar's
democratization and improvement of human rights conditions."
   The Burmese government has said it would yield power to a civilian government after the
drafting of a new constitution, but it has given no timetable.
   Even so, it has freed hundreds of political prisoners in recent years. Many more remain
jailed.