Burma under further pressure

Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention since 30 May

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent a message to Burma's military leader calling for the immediate release of the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Annan said he had expressed his grave concern about her safety and well-being during a meeting with Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister, U Khin Maung Win, in New York on Wednesday.

The BBC's Greg Barrow at the UN in New York says Mr Annan's statement is another sign of the increasing international pressure on the Burmese authorities to free Aung San Suu Kyi and resume a peaceful dialogue with pro-democracy activists.

It came less than 24 hours after the US Congress voted to impose new economic sanctions against Burma in protest at the continued detention of the woman who symbolises the long struggle to end one-party military rule.

The Burmese authorities have criticised the US move on sanctions, describing them as "weapons of mass destruction".

Officials in Rangoon said sanctions shut down interaction, stopped the flow of ideas and deprived people of job opportunities.

Up for discussion?

The bill - approved almost unanimously in the lower house of the US congress amid increasing anger at the opposition leader's detention at the end of May - mirrored similar measures approved by the Senate a month ago.

Once President George W Bush signs it into law, specified Burmese imports will be banned and the country's assets in the US frozen.

Burma's textile and clothing industry is likely to be hardest hit by the measures, which were welcomed by some opposition groups in exile.

The US, like many of Burma's Asian neighbours, rejects the military government's assertion that it was forced to act because Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was plotting an armed uprising.

The UN Security Council has not yet discussed Aung San Suu Kyi's detention, but Mr Annan declined to exclude the possibility this might happen.

"I don't have immediate plans on doing that. I will see what happens ... I'm not saying it's excluded. I think all things are going to be on the table very soon. "

Our correspondent says that if the Burmese military leader, General Than Shwe, chooses to ignore that message, he may find sooner rather than later, the UN Security Council is ready to add its own punitive sanctions to those already imposed by other nations.