Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople today reiterated that the Philippines hopes that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be released before the ASEAN Summit in October, if not earlier.

Secretary Ople made this statement in response to reports that Myanmar has agreed to resolve the issue of the detention of Daw Suu Kyi before the leaders of ASEAN meet in Bali this October.

“I understand that as a result of the meeting earlier this week between Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, the current chair of ASEAN, and Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung, a commitment was made by Myanmar to resolve the issue of Daw Suu Kyi’s detention before the ASEAN Summit.  It is my hope that Myanmar’s decision to resolve this issue includes a decision to release Daw Suu Kyi and the members of the National League for Democracy,” Secretary Ople said.

Indonesia said yesterday that Myanmar plans to resolve an impasse over the detention of Daw Suu Kyi before ASEAN meets in October. Reports quote Minister Wirajuda as saying that Myanmar has told Indonesia that Myanmar “hopes that before the ASEAN Summit, this problem will be resolved,” and that Indonesia has “received a guarantee that the Aung San Suu Kyi case will be over before the ASEAN summit.'  However, Minister Win Aung would only say that Daw Suu Kyi’s arrest would not be prolonged.

On Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win, the Special Envoy of Senior General Than Shwe, the current leader of Mynmar, made separate calls on Secretary Ople and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  During both calls, Myanmar was asked to free Daw Suu Kyi and to institute genuine political and democratic reforms.

 “The Myanmar Government recently allowed the officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit Daw Suu Kyi.  This is a small step in the right direction and we hope this will soon be followed by her release,” the Secretary said.

The ICRC had said that they met with Daw Suu Kyi for about half an hour and that she was in very good health, she wasn't hurt at all and was in high spirits. The ICRC also said that Da Suu Kyi was confined in a very decent place and the conditions were also very decent. END.