|
Top Myanmar General in
Singapore Hospital
Mon Mar 10,12:57 AM ET SINGAPORE (Reuters) - One of Myanmar's most powerful generals is ill and has been admitted to hospital in Singapore, an official from the Singapore General Hospital said on Monday. Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, ranked second in the military junta, left Yangon for Singapore on Sunday, sources close to the Myanmar health ministry and diplomats said, but gave no other details. Myanmar government officials declined to comment. The official from the government-owned Singapore General Hospital told Reuters the general had been admitted on Sunday but declined to give further details. Maung Aye, 65, is vice-chairman of the ruling military administration, known as the State Peace and Development Council, and deputy commander in chief of the armed forces, which have run the impoverished country for the last 40 years. He is reported to be opposed to talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, which won the country's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to govern. The junta released Suu Kyi from house arrest last May, raising hopes of a transition to democracy, but has so far been reluctant to take part in substantive dialogue with Suu Kyi. The gulf between the two sides appears to have widened in recent months, with the government increasingly railing against "destructive elements" -- regarded as a euphemism for the pro-democracy movement. |