Asean rules out Burma intervention

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has not been seen for days

The South-East Asian regional grouping Asean has agreed to avoid outside interference in the current political tensions in Burma, the Vietnamese Government has announced.

We recognise that the latest changes in Myanmar [Burma] are Myanmar's internal affairs and external parties should not interfere

Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

A spokeswoman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, which currently chairs the 10-nation organisation, said its "relevant" Asean partners had agreed that the latest events in Burma - itself an Asean member - were a matter for Burma alone.

Last July Asean agreed to form a committee of three of its members to try to resolve regional political and security disputes.

However, this announcement appears to indicate that Asean does not believe that Burma's political conflict falls into this category.

Burma's military leaders are facing mounting international criticism

Responding to reporters questions in Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said Asean ministers had agreed to stick by the principle of non-interference in each others internal affairs.

"[O]n the basis of consensus and non-interference in each other's internal affairs... we recognise that the latest changes in Myanmar are Myanmar's internal affairs and external parties should not interfere," she said.

Burma's ruling military government is involved in a protracted dispute with the pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Election victory

Asean has traditionally said it wil not interfere in another members internal affairs

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won an overwhelming victory in nationwide elections held 10 years ago.

Refusing to recognise the result the ruling military junta, currently known as the State Peace and Development Council, has instead clamped down on the NLD's members, detaining many without trial and restricting the movement of others.

There have also been widespread reports of torture and of slave labour being used in government construction projects.

House arrest

Last month, Aung San Suu Kyi was forcibly removed from Rangoon's main railway station after the authorities blocked her attempt to travel outside the city.

She has since been kept under de facto house arrest in her home on Rangoon's University Avenue.

Telephone lines to the house have been cut and western diplomats and other visitors have been denied access to her.

The move was strongly criticised by several countries, including the United States and Britain and has cast a shadow over a planned meeting between Asean and European Union foreign ministers in Laos this December.