UN Security Council shows concern for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

May 22, 2009, 17:58 GMT

New York - The UN Security Council issued Friday a statement expressing 'concern' over the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by Myanmar's military junta, calling for her release as well as the release of 'all political prisoners.'

The council issued a press statement rather than a more formal statement from the council president as demanded by Britain. The 15-nation council ranks a presidential statement more important because it carries the authority of the head of that body.

But British Ambassador John Sawers told reporters that the press statement nonetheless was a response to the situation in Myanmar.

'The council has unanimously expressed its view in this statement,' Sawers said. 'It is an important expression of our concern following the latest development.'

The statement 'reiterates the need for the government of Myanmar to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the support of the United Nations.'

'The members of the Security Council affirm their commitment in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar and, in that context, reiterate that the future of Myanmar lies in the hands of all of its people,' the statement said.

Myanmar's military government brought Suu Kyi before the court because she harboured a US national who allegedly swam across a river to her residence, where she had been under house arrest for years. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is head of the National League Democracy and has campaigned for decades for democratic reform in her country.