'Suu Kyi detainment reasonable'

'Suu Kyi detainment reasonable'

THAILAND: Myanmar's military junta has reasonable and convincing reasons for continuing to keep pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Saturday.

Speaking on his weekly radio broadcast, Thaksin said he asked Myanmar's leaders about the Nobel Peace laureate's detention on a trip Thursday to the Southeast Asian nation. The response from the ruling generals was that political instability caused by Suu Kyi's release could lead the country to break up, he said.

More than 100 different ethnic groups exist in Myanmar, the junta told Thaksin, and unless stability was assured, all would want to have their own states.

"(Myanmar) will be torn apart into many different countries," Thaksin quoted the junta as saying. "(The) country will be a mess, nothing will be left.

"These are the reasons they gave (for holding Suu Kyi), which are reasonable enough and convincing, because I have witnessed many things in their process," said Thaksin, without elaborating. -- AP