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BBC-Suu Kyi rejects UK visit offer



Friday, March 26, 1999 Published at 11:56 GMT

World: South Asia

Suu Kyi rejects UK visit offer

Aung San Suu Kyi: Fears leaving Burma

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is reported to have rejected an offer by
the military government of Burma allowing her to return to the country after
visiting her dying husband in the UK.


South East Asia Correspondent Simon Ingram: Ms Suu Kyi's "complete lack of
trust in the government"
Ms Suu Kyi is believed to be unwilling to leave Burma, because of fears that
she would not be allowed to come back.

The authorities have actively encouraged her to visit her British husband,
Michael Aris, but this was the first time that have expressly stated they
would not oppose her return.



Ms Suu Kyi, with husband Michael Aris
Mr Aris was diagnosed as terminally ill with prostate cancer several months
ago and is anxious to see his wife before he dies.

A Burmese Government spokesman said her visit would be acceptable as long as
it was not used for political purposes.

"The government of Myanmar [Burma] sees no difficulty for Ms Suu Kyi in
returning back to Myanmar after her visit to see her husband, believing that
the trip be purely humanitarian and one of a family affair in nature," he
said.

Burma has been under intense international pressure to issue a visa to Mr
Aris allowing him the chance of a final reunion with his wife.

Rangoon has refused, citing humanitarian reasons and a lack of adequate
medical facilities.

'Pawn of Western imperialism'

Military officers who delivered the offer to Ms Suu Kyi were reportedly cut
short and not allowed to finish the message.

"Regretfully, she refused the government's offer and the discussion abruptly
ended with the officers [told] to leave her residence," the spokesman said.




Aung San Suu Kyi - the daughter of the man who led Burma to independence -
is the leader of the country's main opposition party, the National League
for Democracy.

Although the NLD overwhelmingly won the 1990 general elections, the
country's military leaders ignored the results.

Ms Suu Kyi remains the military government's major political opponent,
despite spending almost six years under house arrest. She was released in
1995.


The military authorities have often accused her of being a pawn of Western
imperialism because of her marriage to a British citizen.

Ms Suu Kyi has refused all public comment on her husband's illness, but
sources who met her in recent days say her complete lack of trust in the
government meant no official guarantee would be enough.

The Burmese Government statement pointed out that Mr Aris's family had
pleaded for his illness to be treated as a family matter and not used for
political purposes - a view, it said, Rangoon fully endorsed.