US seeks UN action on Myanmar over Suu Kyi arrest

UNITED NATIONS, June 1 (Reuters) The United States has said it would ask the U.N. Security Council to pressure Myanmar to change its policies after its military rulers extended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for another year.

Washington ''intends to pursue a UN Security Council resolution that will underscore the international community's concerns about the situation in Burma, including the unjustifiable detention of a great champion of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

''The economic, political and public health situation in Burma has deteriorated to the point where the regime's activities and repression of political rights now poses a threat to the stability, peace and security of the region,'' McCormack said in a statement. The United States as a matter of policy refers to Myanmar by its former name, Burma.

The US initiative is likely to be strongly opposed by veto-wielding permanent council members China and Russia as well as by Japan, an elected member that lacks veto power.

It was unveiled after Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, briefed the council behind closed doors on his recent three-day trip to the reclusive Southeast Asian nation.

Gambari was the first senior UN official in two years to be allowed into Myanmar. His trip included an hour's visit with Suu Kyi, her first contact with an outsider in three years.

''We are happy with the way the briefing has been provided, but we would not be happy with going any further than that,'' Japanese UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima said when asked about the US plans for following up on Gambari's talk.

Myanmar's neighbors, including the 10 members of ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, do not see the former Burma ''as a situation that poses a threat to international peace and security,'' Oshima said.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, 60, has been in prison or under house arrest since May 2003. The military has controlled Myanmar since 1962, ignoring a 1990 landslide election victory by her National League for Democracy party.

Gambari told reporters last week that Myanmar seemed to want to improve its frayed relations to the international community. He said freeing Suu Kyi would be a signal of that, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan followed up on Gambari's plea a few days later with his own appeal to release her.

But their pleas went unheeded.

Council diplomats expressed disappointment at Suu Kyi's extended detention but said the briefing left them optimistic.

''I take away from it that there is hope for continued interaction between the United Nation and Myanmar,'' said Danish Ambassador Ellen Margrethe Loj.

Reuters VJ VP0505