"Free Suu Kyi" Annan tells Myanmar junta

BANGKOK, May 26 (Reuters) United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a direct appeal to Myanmar junta supremo Than Shwe today to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose latest detention order expires this weekend. ''I take this opportunity to appeal to General Than Shwe and the government to release her,'' Annan told Reuters Television. ''I am relying on you, General Than Shwe, to do the right thing.'' ''For the democratic process and the reconciliaation process to be truly successful, it has to be inclusive and she has a role to play,'' Annan said.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which won a 1990 election by a landslide only to be denied power by the army, should also be allowed to participate in a ''national dialogue'' on the future of the former Burma, Annan said.

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi has spent 10 of the past 16 years behind bars or under house arrest. BUt Myanmar's ruling junta let a top UN official meet her last weekend, raising hopes she could be released tomorrow.

Malaysia, the current chairman of Southeast Asia's regional political grouping, echoed Annan's words.

''I don't think it's beneficial for Myanmar to keep her indefinitely,'' said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who visited Yangon in March as an envoy of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

''One of the best ways, rather than to renew the detention, is to release her,'' he told reporters. ''The government is very strong and very stable. They are able to maintain security. Why should they be worried?'' ''The international community will welcome it, but it's their right. We hope they will take the views and feelings of others into account.'' Myanmar, which has been under military rule of one form or another since 1962, has been a member of ASEAN since 1997 but is a source of embarrassment to one of the few international groups willing to have it as a member.

Senior UN official Ibrahim Gambari met Suu Kyi last Saturday in a Yangon guest house -- her first contact with an outsider in more than two years.

Gambari said after the meeting it did not mean her release was imminent, but the encounter sparked talk the generals might be prepared to free her when her current six-month detention order lapses tomorrow.

REUTERS SRS KN1342