At her house on Rangoon's University Avenue, Aung Sang Suu Kyi sits and waits. Imprisoned off and on for the best part of two decades, this weekend marked 13 years of accumulated time she has spent either in prison or else under house arrest. Remarkably it also marked the first time that Western and Asian leaders came together to demand the release of political prisoners such as her.
At the Asian-European summit in Beijing, a statement was released which said: "Leaders... encouraged the Myanmar government to engage all stakeholders in an inclusive political process in order to achieve national reconciliation and economic and social development. In this regard, they called for the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties and early further release of those under detention."
Clearly, it's one thing for European countries that have little or no stake in Burma to call on the military junta to free prisoners and quite another for China, the regime's main backer, to do so.
Activists said they were pleased. "This is a significant breakthrough," said Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK. "It's the first time we've had Europe and Asia come together in this way to demand real political progress in Burma. The demand to release political prisoners is particularly significant."
Last month, the regime said it was releasing 9,000 prisoners, including six political prirsoners, one of whom I spoke with. (One of the six, U Win Htein, was promptly rearrested and returned to jail.)
But what seems clear is that however many prisoners may have been released - it is impossible to verify the numbers - the vast majority of the political prisoners imprisoned in the aftermath of last year's democracy protests remain in jail. Indeed, the Burma Campaign UK believes the number of such prisoners of conscience has doubled to 2,100 since last year. In December, UN Sec General Ban-Ki Moon is to hold unprecedented talks with the regime's leaders. Let's hope he remembers the woman at 54 University Avenue and the hundreds of others thrown behind bars by Burma's generals.
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