Relations with Burma on hold - Ahern

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, today said that Ireland will never establish diplomatic ties with Burma while…

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, today said that Ireland will never establish diplomatic ties with Burma while Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

Mr Ahern made his comments as political leaders renewed calls for the release of the pro-democracy leader, who turned 60 in Rangoon today.

The Government told Burma last year that diplomatic relations were possible if it improved its record on political progress, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

However, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Dermot Ahern said today the continued house arrest of Ms Suu Kyi since 2003 made diplomatic links impossible.

READ MORE

“Any of those moves are on hold,” he said.

“We have raised this issue at every available forum and are part of EU moves to put pressure on that regime to let this lady out.

“We fully accept and agree that this (house arrest) should not happen.

“We are one of those countries who are leading the moves in this respect. An international symbol of passive resistance to oppression, Ms Suu Kyi's National League For Democracy party won a landslide victory in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern by the country's military junta regime.

Singer Damien Rice, who plans to release a song dedicated to Suu Kyi, today compared her to Nelson Mandela.

“She's this woman who just seems to have so much to give,” he told RTE Radio.

“Even though lots of her friends have been tortured or murdered, she still doesn't have any hatred towards the military.

“She's like a female Nelson Mandela.”

American rock supergroup REM plan to pay a special tribute to Ms Suu Kyi by broadcasting a section of their concert at Ardgillan Castle in north Dublin tonight.