International
Suu Kyi's cousin released
By Amit Baruah
SINGAPORE, JAN. 10. Junta sends more positive signalsyi, among five political prisoners yesterday, is being seen as a positive development for the talks process. The release of Choo Aung Than, cousin and former liaison officer of Ms. Suu Kyi, and four others takes the total number of political detainees freed since the talks between INTERNATIONALal League for Democracy (NLD) and the military Government began in September 2000, to 207.
Mr. Aung Than was arrested in 1997 after being accused of helping send money from a U.S. labour rights' group to the NLD leader. He was sentenced to a 10-year jail term.
Speaking in Thailand, the Myanmar Foreign Minister, U Win Aung, denied that there was an impasse in the talks with Ms. Suu Kyi as the head of the NLD. "We cannot expect everything to be resolved quickly,'' Mr. Win Aung told reporters. ``I don't think we are running (away). But creating a quality atmosphere is very important.''
To a question on when Ms. Suu Kyi herself would be released, the Foreign Minister said: ``The time will come one day.'' Mr. Win Aung maintained that the cases of all political prisoners were reviewed regularly.
Last week, in the first public comment of its kind, the NLD leadership called for a meaningful political dialogue with the military Government.
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