Myanmar's democtars wait as release of Suu Kyi's looms
Myanmar's democtars wait as release of Suu Kyi's looms
Pascale Trouillaud, Agence France-Presse, Yangon
Myanmar's democratic opposition, diplomats and media were forced to play the waiting game on Friday as they watched anxiously for the expected release of Aung San Suu Kyi after 19 months under house arrest.
The headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) was abuzz with anticipation as party members gathered to await signs that an agreement on her release had finally been forged with the military government.
"We are totally exhilarated that she will be freed. We will be very happy if it happens," said party worker Hla Myint, one of a group of women selling badges and posters emblazoned with the image of their charismatic leader.
The junta said on Friday it had freed five NLD members from jail, in the latest of a series of release that began after the generals embarked on secret talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000.
More than 250 political prisoners have been released in small groups since then, but the latest batch is likely to disappoint observers who had been hoping for a much bigger release.
The NLD has said last-minute negotiations over the conditions for Suu Kyi's own liberation are still being deliberated.
"This is a very critical stage, they don't want to say anything which would adversely affect a very fragile situation. But you can see by yourself that everyone is here and waiting," said Soe Myint, a member of the party's decision-making Central Executive Committee.
His deputy in the NLD's Yangon divisional organizing committee, Than Win, said the party expected the Nobel peace laureate would visit the downtown headquarters immediately after she was allowed to leave her lakeside villa.
"She's in a key position, all of us are expecting her. As soon as she's released she will come here to speak and as far as I know she will come to the NLD headquarters every day," he told AFP.
Dozens of foreign media who have descended on Yangon in recent days swarmed around the ramshackle building, which was packed full of people swapping notes and bowls of food as well as conducting regular lessons for youngsters, mostly English classes.
Meanwhile, military intelligence officials kept their own vigil, snapping photos and taking video footage of everyone entering the wooden building, from their usual vantage point in a tea shop across the road.
Anticipation that the restrictions against Suu Kyi would soon be lifted were sparked on Tuesday when UN envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, who visited here last week, hinted the release could be imminent.
Observers in Yangon said the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) had much to settle before making such a move, and may also be preparing a statement on the historic talks with Suu Kyi.
"Rumors have been started that (the release) won't be today, that it'll be tomorrow, and there's another rumor that it might be later," said one Yangon-based diplomat. "Quite frankly I don't think anyone really knows."
"It might mean there's some sort of hitch, but it might just mean they're just trying to sort things out.
"But I wouldn't make too much of the delay, as they (the junta) never said when it would happen," he said, adding the regime ensures its every move is planned down to the last detail, and never makes major steps in haste.
Diplomats say the agreement on Suu Kyi's release is likely to cover her freedom of movement, the release of political prisoners and the future operations of the NLD.
Her party has said she is concerned at the prospect of returning to conditions she endured after 1995 when she was freed from six years under house arrest but forbidden to leave the capital Yangon.
"We don't want to make a repeat of '95," NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo said Thursday, while adding that reaching a satisfactory agreement was "feasible".
The United States also said on Tuesday it would welcome the release of Myanmar's democracy figurehead, but that her freedom must be "unconditional".