Burma arrests marchers near Suu Kyi home

ABC NEWS

Burma's junta has arrested 20 people trying to march to the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the day her latest year-long stretch of house arrest is due to expire, a witness and opposition sources said.

The youth members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) had been trying to get to the detained Nobel laureate's home, which has been sealed off by barbed-wired barricades at the nearest major junction, the sources said.

A Reuters reporter saw at least six police trucks, a prison van and a fire engine parked near the NLD headquarters before a ceremony to mark the latest phase of Suu Kyi's house arrest.

There has been no word on the detention order, although few expect the military to do anything but roll it over, even though such a move is bound to create tensions with Western nations who have promised millions of dollars in cyclone aid.

Donors pledged nearly $US50 million in aid at a landmark conference on Sunday in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which has left 134,000 people dead or missing and another 2.4 million clinging to survival in the Irrawaddy delta.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in prison or under house arrest. Her latest stretch of detention started "for her own protection" after clashes between her supporters and pro-junta thugs near the town of Depayin on May 30, 2003.

However, her formal house arrest under a state security law did not start until November 27 of that year. It was renewed once for six months, and has since been renewed every year on or around May 27.

Suu Kyi's party won more than 80 per cent of seats in a 1990 election, but was denied power by the military, which has ruled Burma since a 1962 coup.


'Sham' referendum

Meanwhile Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party has rejected the outcome of Burma's referendum on a military-backed constitution, calling the approval of the text a "sham".

"The referendum is not free and fair," the National League for Democracy (NLD) said in its first official reaction to the junta's claim of victory.

"Although the NLD is ready to accept the verdict of the people, based on their free will, it will not be able to accept the sham referendum of the authorities," the party said in a statement.

The party also denounced the regime for holding the referendum in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

The regime claims that despite the devastation, 98 per cent of voters turned out for the referendum and more than 92 per cent endorsed their charter.

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