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AFP : Myanmar junta offers condolen



Subject: AFP : Myanmar junta offers condolences to DASSK

Myanmar junta offers condolences to Aung San Suu Kyi
   (ADDS NLD comment)
   
   YANGON, March 28 (AFP) - Myanmar's ruling junta on Sunday offered its 
"sincere condolences" to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi over the death of 
her husband.
   The junta said it would allow Aung San Suu Kyi to return to England to 
attend the funeral of Michael Aris.
   "The government of Myanmar is deeply saddened to hear of Mr Michael Aris's 
demise and sends its sincere condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family 
in this time of grief," it said in a statement.
   The junta, which strictly controls Aung San Suu Kyi's movements, had 
effectively refused Aris a visa to Myanmar to allow him to visit his wife to 
say goodbye before he died.
   The academic died in a British hospital on Saturday of cancer.
   The junta said Sunday it would help with funeral rites in Yangon and 
"stands ready in providing Ms Suu Kyi with all possible assistance if she 
desires to travel to England to attend the funeral rites and family affairs
at 
this time of bereavement."
   Authorities in Yangon said they were reluctant to allow Aris to visit 
Myanmar in the condition he was in and said it would be more "humane" if Aung 
San Suu Kyi visited him in England.
   But sources close to the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader said 
she doubted she would be allowed to return despite assurances from the junta 
that she could come back.
   Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a sweeping victory in 1990 elections but 
has never been allowed to form a government.
   She remains the junta's biggest political threat and is kept isolated from 
the outside world while party members are arrested and intimidated.
   Her marriage to Aris was a frequent topic of ridicule in the state press, 
which called her a puppet of foreign interests.
   Friends and supporters were seen arriving at Aung San Suu Kyi's Yangon
home 
and at NLD party headquarters Sunday to sign condolence books.
   NLD sources told AFP that preparations were under way to arrange Buddhist 
funeral rites in Yangon later this week, involving more than 50 monks in a 
ceremony at Aung San Suu Kyi's home.
   "Dr Aris not only showed great understanding towards Daw (honorific) Aung 
San Suu Kyi's endeavours to achieve democracy and human rights ... but with 
love and compassion wholeheartedly supported and assisted her cause by making 
tremendous personal sacrifices," an NLD statement said.
   It said all "freedom-loving people who desire democracy" shared a sense of 
grief over Aris's death.
   Aung San Suu Kyi married Aris in 1972. Their two sons live in England.