Suu Kyi unwell—Gambari meeting uncertain

Wai Moe
The Irrawaddy News Magazine
7 Nov 07
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9240

Aung San Suu KyiBurma’s detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was visited twice by a doctor at the weekend in an unusual break from the regime-ordained routine, which allows her only two medical calls a month.

Nyan Win, spokesman of her National League for Democracy, said it wasn’t known why Suu Kyi needed medical treatment, but he had been told she was now better.

Another NLD spokesman, Myint Thein, said the party would ask permission for Suu Kyi to receive one doctor’s visit a week.

“Her heath is important not only for herself but also for the country,” he said.

Suu Kyi’s last bout of illness, needing medical attention at her home, was in June 2006. She had a hysterectomy operation in September 2003.

The daughter of the country’s independence hero Aung San has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest. Her current period of house arrest began in late May 2003, after troops and hired thugs ambushed her convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division in northern Burma.

The last time she was seen in public was at the height of the September demonstrations, when she welcomed monks at the gates of her home on Rangoon’s University Avenue. She later met visiting UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, and was due to have a further meeting with him during his current visit to Burma.

However, a row between the UN representation in Rangoon and the Burmese Foreign Ministry has cast doubt on the meeting, according to a diplomatic source.

Suu Kyi met for about one hour on October 25 with the official appointed to act as liaison officer between her and the regime, retired Maj-Gen Aung Kyi.

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