NEW YORK, Nov 30 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called Tuesday for the swift release of Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest has been extended for another year by the country's military junta.
Annan said her detention "is not in the interest of the process of national reconciliation and democratization in Myanmar" and called for her to be freed "as soon as possible," the UN chief's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said in a statement.
Annan felt his belief was shared by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, as well as other countries in Asia, Eckhard said.
The UN chief said the junta should "seize the momentum" created by its recent mass release of more than 9,000 prisoners by releasing Aung San Suu Kyi as well as other political detainees as soon as possible.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since May 2003 following a violent clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob. It was the Nobel peace laureate's third period of house arrest since she took up the democracy struggle in 1988.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party revealed this week that her arrest had been extended for another year.
The NLD won 1990 elections in Myanmar but was never allowed to rule. The party's offices have also been shut down.
11/30/2004 18:49 GMT - AFP