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BBC - Saturday, 2 September, 2000, 03:15 GMT 04:15 UK
Suu Kyi stand-off ends The nine-day roadside confrontation between the Burmese pro-democracy
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the country's military government is over amid
conflicting reports about how it ended.
The deputy leader of Miss Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party,
Tin Oo, said riot police forced her and her colleagues to return to the capital,
Rangoon.
"At about 11pm last night [Friday] several riot police raided the place and
forcibly took Aung San Suu Kyi and all of us," Tin Oo said.
A government statement however said Miss Suu Kyi and the rest of her party
had been escorted in a motorcade "facilitated by the government for their safe
and convenient return".
"They arrived home fit and sound this morning [on Saturday]," the statement
said.
'Sacrificial lamb'
The military authorities described the protest by the pro-democracy leader
as a deliberate confrontation designed to attract world attention.
A government website said "Western powers" may be turning Ms Suu Kyi into a
"sacrifical lamb".
It said she belonged to Western powers "morally and literally".
Miss Suu Kyi, her driver, and 14 members of her party were stopped by
police as they left the capital for a political meeting on 24 August.
The incident prompted widespread international condemnation of the
restrictions placed on the 55-year-old Nobel Peace laureate by the military
authorities.
The European Union, United Nations and United States were among those to
express concern for Ms Suu Kyi.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in May 1990, but
Burma's military rulers refused to hand over power, jailing some party members
and placing others under house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the late Burmese nationalist leader,
General Aung San, was prevented from leaving her home for six years.
Although this was lifted in 1995, the military has constantly restricted
her movements. |