Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders,
who had been touring northern Myanmar, were detained Friday
after clashes between supporters and opponents of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) killed four people.
"Government authorities brought her back to the capital
today from the north, where she was visiting supporters," a
source close to the government said.
The United Nations (news - web sites) had earlier expressed concern about the
whereabouts of Suu Kyi, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)
said in a statement Saturday he was "following, and with
concern, the situation in Myanmar."
The ruling military, which described Suu Kyi's detention as
"protective custody," closed off the party headquarters in
Yangon, and a party official said its offices had been closed
elsewhere in the country, formerly known as Burma.
An education ministry source said the government had also
closed universities and colleges "indefinitely."
Universities have been closed and reopened several times
since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which began with student
riots. Most universities were relocated outside major cities in
the late 1990s.
Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy icon, had been on a month-long
tour visiting supporters and party offices in the north of the
country.
Other top NLD party members have been confined to their homes
and their phone lines have been out of order since Friday
night.
BLOW TO TALKS
Myanmar has been ruled by the military in various guises
for the last four decades.
Foreign diplomats contacted by Reuters Sunday said they
feared the detentions could deal a death blow to stalled talks
between the ruling generals and the opposition on Myanmar's
political future. U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail is due to
travel to Myanmar Friday.
Suu Kyi's party won 1990 elections by a landslide but she
was denied power by the military and spent much of the last
decade under house arrest. After intense international
pressure, the junta released her from 19 months under house
arrest in May 2002.
Officials of Suu Kyi's party, which has been pushing for a
transition to democracy in the Southeast Asian nation, said
contact with her and senior aides had been cut off since
Friday.
One NLD official, who declined to be identified, said
authorities had shut down party offices in the country's second
biggest city, Mandalay, 700 km (430 miles) north of Yangon, as
well as in Mawlamyaing in the south and Pathein in the west.
"As far as we have heard, our offices...have been closed
and we think some offices in other home states have been
closed," said the official.
Myanmar officials did not say what sparked the violence in
Yaway Oo, about 560 km (350 miles) north of the capital, and
denied media reports that Suu Kyi's vehicle had been fired on
by an unidentified gunman Friday night.
Talks between the junta and the opposition began in late
2000 after Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. They stalled in
the early stages and the government has not responded to Suu
Kyi's calls for substantive dialogue on political change.
More than 1,000 of her party members are in Myanmar jails,
where many of them have languished for years.