Burma's Suu Kyi sued by brother

Aung San Suu Kyi is again confined to her house

The Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is being sued by her elder brother for a share in the family home.

The Nobel laureate has been summoned to appear in Rangoon District Court next Tuesday.

The military has refused to hand over power

It is not clear whether the military authorities who are holding her under house arrest will allow her to attend.

The lakeside villa where Aung San Suu Kyi lives was given to her mother by the then civilian government after the 1947 assassination of her father, General Aung San.

Her brother Aung San Oo lives in the United States, but makes regular personal and business trips to Burma.

His legal representative in Rangoon has posted the subpoena on the gate of the two-storey house.

Deadline

Their mother Khin Kyi, who died in 1988, is believed to have wanted the villa to be shared equally between her two children.

Reports say that under Burmese law, inheritance disputes must be settled within 12 years.

Aung San Oo's legal move comes just one month before that deadline expires.

Unlike his sister, he is not openly critical of the government and the two are known not to be close.

Ban

Aung San Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since 22 September, when the government confined her to her home after she attempted to board a train to Mandalay in defiance of a travel ban.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the elections in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.

Last month, there was an attempt to evict the NLD from its headquarters.

But the owners of the building postponed the attempt when they could not deliver the eviction notice to senior party members who are all under house arrest.