The United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, called on the Burmese junta yesterday to allow Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi to move freely around the country.
"There are legitimate concerns about Mrs Suu Kyi's health and her security during the stand-off," Mrs Robinson said in Geneva as the Burmese dissident leader spent a fifth day in her car near Rangoon after police blocked her movements. Yesterday her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said two of her doctors examined Aung Suu Kyi and found "her health is deteriorating. She was dehydrated. . . She needs check-ups twice a day".
Mrs Robinson said she was seriously worried by the stand-off. "This is the latest incident in what appears to be a developing pattern of restriction of the rights of freedom of movement and to freedom of association of Mrs Suu Kyi and members of the National League of Democracy," she said.
"I urge the government of Myanmar [Burma] to work with Mrs Suu Kyi and her supporters to resolve the current stand-off peacefully and quickly," she added.
She also called on the junta to guarantee human rights and free movement to all citizens and to hasten the process of national reconciliation.
She is pressing the government to authorise a visit by the special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission.
The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that Israeli military experts are advising the Burmese junta on the production of assault rifles and artillery pieces.
The newspaper, citing Jane's Defence Weekly, said Israeli experts had been acting as advisers at an arms factory in Rangoon.
The prefabricated building was designed and built by Chartered Industries of Singapore and then shipped to Rangoon, the newspaper said. "They rebuilt the whole factory in Burma with assistance from Israeli military experts. We still don't know exactly whether the experts are active officers of the Israeli military or former officers," a journalist for Radio-Free Burma told Israeli radio.
The Israeli ministry of defence has refused to confirm or deny the report. --(AFP)