Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition prepared yesterday for the release of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, after a year in detention, as a UN envoy said it appeared she would be freed in the next few days.
The ruling junta allowed the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters to re-open Saturday, in a move seen as heralding the end of the the Nobel peace laureate's third stint under house arrest.
"We are anxious and eager for Aung San Suu Kyi to be freed because we will be able to be more active when she is here, giving us pep talks and instructions," an NLD official said.
"Until now the party's activities have been constrained ... but as the main office will be open from [today] and [senior members freed last week] will be visiting regularly, we will be operating more normally."
For weeks there has been intense speculation that Suu Kyi will be released before a constitutional convention to be held from May 17, the first step in the junta's seven-point "road map to democracy."
But UN envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail said in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that the restrictions, part of a crackdown on the NLD unleashed after political unrest last May, would be lifted imminently.
"She has to be released in the next several days or so. All indications are pointing to that direction," he said.
Asked to comment on the release of two of Suu Kyi's lieutenants last week and a rare march staged by the party through Yangon Saturday, he said, "I am very hopeful the development has taken place. I think it indicates a willingness of all to make the road map to democracy a success."
Analysts in Yangon also said they expected the junta to free Suu Kyi soon, but warned that nothing regarding the opaque and secretive regime could be taken for certain.
"There's no doubt there have been discussions between the government and Suu Kyi and there are indications it's going to happen but it's not done until it's done," one diplomat said.
As NLD workers scrubbed their headquarters clean Saturday, party members held New Year celebrations which culminated in a march to a point on Yangon's Inya lake, within sight of Suu Kyi's waterside residence.
The provocative hour-long procession, staged mostly by women, elders and youth-wing members along with some Buddhist monks, was an unmistakably political gesture almost unheard of in this repressive state.
Dressed in the party's signature saffron shirts and yellow sarongs, they carried earthenware bowls of small fish, which were released in a Buddhist New Year ritual that took on immense political significance.
When the group began to disperse, about a dozen activists made their way in small groups to Suu Kyi's University Drive home but were stopped by some 15 uniformed riot police and turned back without incident.
In a strongly worded statement released later, the NLD demanded Suu Kyi's release and criticized the government's plans for the convention, saying it would not take part unless substantial changes were made.
"We also consider that the present conditions are not conducive to open and free discussions," it said.
Myanmar's junta has been trying to persuade all political parties and ethnic groups to take part in the convention, to boost the credibility of the road map which it says will culminate in "free and fair" elections.
Meanwhile yesterday, EU and Asian foreign ministers were due to wrap up annual talks overshadowed once again by EU distaste for the military dictatorship ruling Myanmar.
The EU side insisted on wholesale changes in Myanmar including Suu Kyi's release if the military-ruled nation is to join regional dialogue in the future.
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