Burmese junta may release Nobel winner Suu Kyi today

End of house arrest in sight as Rangoon seeks to come in from the cold

Luke Harding in Bangkok- The Guardian

Friday May 3, 2002

Hope was rising last night that the Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was on the brink of signing an historic agreement with the military junta to release her from house arrest in her lakeside villa in Rangoon, where she has been confined for the past 18 months.

The National League for Democracy chairman, Tin Oo, said he was "optimistic" that she would be released from house arrest soon, possibly today. "We are expecting some definitely good news about Aung San Suu Kyi in days," he said.

Speculation that Ms Suu Kyi's latest period of confinement was about to end has been growing since it emerged that she had been holding secret talks with the military government. Yesterday she left her house for a rare meeting with one of the three middle-aged generals who control Burma, the intelligence chief Khin Nyunt.

The junta has taken the unprecedented step of inviting dozens of journalists to Burma, a country which has shunned the outside world for most of its history.

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