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".