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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2008
8:21 MECCA TIME, 5:21 GMT
Myanmar bars Suu Kyi from elections
Asean criticised Aung San Suu Kyi's exclusion but said it was powerless to
act [GALLO/GETTY]
Aung San Suu Kyi will be barred from running for elections in Myanmar
under
a draft constitution proposed by the country's military government,
because
she has been married to a foreigner.
The Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate was married to
Michael Aris, a British citizen who died of cancer in the UK in 1999.
The government's announcement comes ahead of a May referendum on the new
constitution which, if approved, will pave the way for democratic
elections
in 2010.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which includes Myanmar
among its 10-nation member****p, criticised the move on Wednesday but said
it
was powerless to do anything.
Speaking at an Asean meeting in Singa****e, Nyan Win, Myanmar's foreign
minister, confirmed the new charer would bar Aung San Suu Kyi from running
for public office.
"This is their own country, this is their own history. What can we do
about
it?"
George Yeo, Singa****e foreign minister
George Yeo, Singa****e's foreign minister, said Nyan Win told regional
ministers that a Myanmar citizen with a foreign spouse and non-citizen
children would be disqualified under the new constitution, as is the case
in
the 1974 do***ent.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, is the mother of two
British children.
Yeo said the Asean ministers found the exclusion clause "not [in] keeping
with the times" saying that it would be "very odd" in any member country
of
the regional grouping.
But he added: "This is their own country, this is their own history. What
can we do about it?"
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has denounced the
restrictions as "unjust", saying the military was preparing for elections
before knowing the outcome of the referendum.
"There is not yet a law to govern the elections which are to be held in
2010. It's unjust for the authorities to talk in advance about the
elections," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the military
refused
to recognise the result.
Military veto
The new constitution is expected to ensure the
military remains the top power [AFP]
The final version of the proposed constitution has not been released, but
previous re****ts in state media have suggested that in addition to barring
Aung San Suu Kyi from public office there will be strict limits on the
activities of political parties.
It is also expected to include provisions reserving one quarter of seats
in
parliament for serving military officers and give them a veto over
legislation.
Re****ts have also suggested that the military commander in chief will be
the
most powerful figure in the country, and able to appoint key ministers and
hold power in "times of emergency".
The draft constitution took more than 14 years to complete and was only
approved by a government-appointed commission without consulting
opposition
groups.
Aung Zaw, an exiled Myanmar activist and editor of the magazine Irrawaddy,
said the planned referendum on the new constitution would only plunge the
country into further chaos.
"People in Burma are in no mood to cooperate with the military junta,
particularly after the bloody crackdown in September," he told Al Jazeera.
Earlier this week, Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy to Myanmar
visited
Beijing in an effort to push China, a key ally of Myanmar, to persuade the
ruling military to "co-operate concretely" in moves towards democracy.
China and others, he said, should send "the right message, the right
signals" to the ruling generals to achieve the objective of "a peaceful,
united, prosperous, stable, democratic Myanmar with full respect for the
human rights of its people".
Gambari said he expected to be allowed to return to Myanmar, adding that
it
was too soon to say if the UN would be involved in the process of moving
the
country toward democracy.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AACAE0E7-2461-4DD6-9E84-D78C54F648F8.htm
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