ASEM to call for Aung San Suu Kyi release: draft statement‏

Asia, Europe to call for Aung San Suu Kyi release: draft statement 25
May 2009, 18:21 CET - filed under: Myanmar (HANOI) - Asian and European
ministers are to jointly call for the release of Myanmar opposition
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a draft statement seen by AFP on
Monday said.

"In light of the concern about the recent development to Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, ministers... called for the early release of those under
detention and the lifting of restriction placed on political parties,"
said the draft statement. It was prepared for the Asia-Europe (ASEM)
Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hanoi which ends Tuesday.

Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial in military-ruled Myanmar where she faces
up to five years in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after
an incident in which an American man swam to her house.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been in detention for 13 of the past
19 years since her National League for Democracy party won a landslide
victory in 1990 polls but was not allowed to take power.

ASEM's draft statement called on Myanmar to conduct elections planned
for next year "in a free and fair manner" and said the future of
Myanmar lay "in the hands of its people".

Myanmar was expected to come up for discussion at the ASEM meeting
Monday night during a working dinner, delegates said.

Earlier, asked whether ASEM would make a statement about Myanmar,
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda had told AFP that "one
paragraph" in the planned statement was "the result of lots of
consultations between Asian (countries), Europeans and with Myanmar as
a direct partner."

Also earlier, Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), had said there were "some discussions
going on" at the Asia-Europe meeting over Myanmar.

In a rare move, ASEAN last week issued an expression of "grave concern"
over the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours traditionally prefer not to be
seen as intervening in the affairs of their members.

On Monday Myanmar's junta accused neighbouring Thailand, which issued
the ASEAN statement in its capacity as the bloc's chairman, of meddling
in Myanmar's domestic politics, state media reported.

Asked for his reaction, Surin said: "I think you cannot deny that there
is a rather strong sense of anxiety and that's something that ASEAN
will have to find a way to address."

Myanmar belongs to the 10-member ASEAN bloc, as well as to ASEM.

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