Burmese activist asks for healthcare
Leaves home detention for first time since May
RANGOON, Burma -- Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate held under house arrest, left her home for the first time since May yesterday to meet with a UN diplomat, telling the official she needed more frequent medical attention.
Suu Kyi made the comments to the UN's undersecretary general for political affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, during an hourlong meeting at the diplomat's government guesthouse, according to a UN statement.
"Aung San Suu Kyi conveyed to Gambari that she is in good health but requires more regular medical visits," said the statement issued by the UN office in Rangoon. It did not provide details of her health condition.
Gambari, who is pressing the government to adopt human rights and political reforms, met with Suu Kyi previously in May -- the last time she was permitted to leave her home. The 61-year-old political prisoner has spent 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.
This time, like the last, their meeting was conducted under tight security.
Suu Kyi was escorted from her home in a three-car convoy to Gambari's guesthouse, said officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Suu Kyi was driven in a black sedan with tinted windows, with the country's police chief in the passenger seat.
No details of the meeting were made public. But Gambari said he was "conveying a message" to Suu Kyi from the head of the junta, according to two diplomats who attended a briefing with the UN official earlier in the day, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the visit.
The junta refuses to talk to Suu Kyi or her party.
The UN Security Council took the historic step of putting the country on its agenda in September, meaning that Burma's ruling junta is subject to greater UN scrutiny.
The United States plans to introduce a resolution on Burma, also known as Myanmar, to the Security Council this year. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, has said Washington will wait until after Gambari's visit before deciding on the contents of the resolution.
Burma's junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide election victory.
Suu Kyi has been kept in near-solitary confinement at her home, and is generally not allowed outside visitors or telephone contact.
Western nations and the UN have repeatedly called for her release. Ahead of Gambari's visit, which started Thursday, Secretary General Kofi Annan said he wanted the trip to produce "tangible steps forward" on human rights, democratic reforms, and national reconciliation in Burma.
