Aung San Suu Kyi's Detention Extended

Reuters reports that the military government of Burma (Myanmar) today extended Aung San Suu Kyi's house detention for another year. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been under house detention or in prison for nearly 13 of the last 18 years.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is being criticized for not bringing up Suu Kyi's prisoner status with the Burma junta in recent talks. The UN has been negotiating with the junta to allow foreign aid workers into the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy Delta.

Today the UN claims aid has reached one million Burmese. There are signs the junta is being less than cooperative, however. Agence France-Presse reports that the junta refused to allow the French frigate Mistral to dock and unload, "even though it is equipped with three helicopters and carries enough food to sustain 100,000 people for two weeks." The junta refuses to allow French, U.S. or British ships into Burma. The supplies on the French ship will be transferred to a commercial cargo vessel.

Photo Caption: A protester against the situation in Burma holds a mask with the face of Aung San Suu Kyi outside the Chinese Embassy on October 24, 2007 in London.