Aung San Suu Kyi *IS* Free! (1 of 3

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Subject: Aung San Suu Kyi *IS* Free! (1 of 3)

THE DAY HAS ARRIVED!!!  OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!  At least this is a
start; let us now pray with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for FREEDOM FOR BURMA!!!

>From REUTER:

     RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed
unexpectedly Monday after nearly six years under house arrest and immediately began
talks with fellow democracy campaigners.
     The slight but steely rights campaigner, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was
detained for her outspoken attacks on the military, which killed and imprisoned thousands
while supressing pro-democracy uprisings in 1988.
     U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson, the first foreigner to visit Aung San Suu Kyi while she was in
detention, said he was "enormously pleased and surprised" by her release and expected
her to resume the leadership of the pro-democracy movement.
     But a diplomat monitoring developments in Burma from his post in Bangkok, Thailand,
said: "It's a bit puzzling, too good to be true. I just don't feel this is real. I'd wait another two or
three days before I rejoiced."
     He said the military leaders felt "very confident partly because of the levels of foreign
investment in Burma. That's not to say they understand how the international economy works,
but the pledges of investment make them feel they've been accepted."
     Witnesses standing outside Aung San Suu Kyi's home said she was meeting Tin Oo and
Kyi Maung, two recently released senior members of the National League for Democracy
party she helped found in 1988.
     Small groups of people gathered in the rain outside her Rangoon house after the news of
her release spread, witnesses said. The gates to her compound were closed, but many cars
were parked outside the house.
     Official Burmese media made no mention of her release in early evening news
broadcasts, but a military spokesman told reporters the 50-year-old Nobel laureate was
freed in the late afternoon.
     Aung San Suu Kyi neither appeared in public nor made any official announcements, but a
military official said she would be holding a news conference Tuesday.
     A statement from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, issued in Tokyo, said Aung San Suu Kyi
was freed unconditionally and was still being guarded at her request.
     She was placed under house arrest July 20, 1989 for "endangering the state." She was
never charged or tried.
     Last Friday, Burma's most powerful general, Khin Nyunt, hinted that she would not be
released any time soon, telling a Rangoon meeting the rights of Burma's 45 million people
had to come before the rights of "any single person."
     Aung San Suu Kyi had two highly publicized meetings with top officials from the ruling State
Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) last year, but diplomats speculated they failed
because the SLORC wanted to put conditions on her release.
     She later said she would not make any secret deals in exchange for her freedom.
     "I am enormously pleased and surprised by her release. When I went to Burma two weeks
ago every expectation was that she would be detained indefinitely," Richardson, a New
Mexico Democrat, told Reuters in Washington.
     Richardson, who visited Aung San Suu Kyi in February last year but was denied access
last month, said the move was a step in the right direction he hoped would lead to more
democracy.
     "I think the significance is that Aung San Suu Kyi can now take her rightful role as the leader
of the pro-democracy movement in Burma, since she was released unconditionally," he said.
    Richard Bunting of the London-based Amnesty International human rights group told BBC
radio: "We are extremely delighted, over the moon that after this very long time she is finally
free."
    Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino, who inspired a "people power" campaign to
topple autocrat Ferdinand Marcos, said "I am truly happy for her and her people and I am
glad that her years of suffering have finally come to an end.
     "Hopefully, she will be able to work with her people in bringing about the freedoms that she
has been fighting for."
     Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said his government welcomed the release "as
important progress toward the democratization of Burma and the improvement of its human
rights situation.
     "We expect the Burmese government to take still more positive steps toward improving
human rights and realizing democracy."
  REUTER