Laura Bush joins Senate plea for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) US first lady Laura Bush joined female senators as they launched a fresh campaign to pressure the military junta in Myanmar to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In an unusual intervention in foreign policy matters, Laura Bush gathered with the newly formed, bipartisan Senate Women's Caucus on Burma to call for legislation and UN pressure on the Yangon government.

''We urge the people in Burma, the generals in Burma, to release Aung San Suu Kyi on May 27th,'' said Laura Bush, using the poor Southeast Asian country's former name and referring to the date Suu Kyi's latest detention term is set to expire.

''I want everyone to realize that these are Republican and Democratic senators, that this is a bipartisan issue, and that all the women who signed this -- every single woman senator -- stand with all of our friends in Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi,'' she said in a meeting transcript issued by the White House.

The letter signed by all 16 women in the US Senate will be sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to call for a binding Security Council resolution on Myanmar, following a veto by China and Russia of a measure in the council earlier this year, the transcript said.

Asked about China's close ties with the junta, Laura Bush said Beijing should share the concern of fellow neighbors of Myanmar about drugs, HIV/AIDS and other problems ''that the regime has allowed.'' ''I urge China to stand with us, as well,'' she said. Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years. Her latest four-year detention is due to expire on May 27, but, the generals in Yangon are expected to extend the term for another year.

REUTERS DKS PM0528