AFP : Philippine leader condoles de

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Subject: AFP : Philippine leader condoles death of Dr. Michael aris

Philippine leader condoles death of Aung San Suu Kyi's husband
   
   MANILA, March 29 (AFP) - Philippine President Joseph Estrada said Monday 
that the Yangon junta missed a "confidence building step" by effectively 
refusing to allow a final meeting between Myanmar opposition leader Aung San 
Suu Kyi and her husband before his death.
   Estrada offered condolences to Aung San Suu Kyi and her family over the 
death on Saturday in London of her British husband, Michael Aris, an official 
statement said.
   It disclosed that before Aris' death, Manila had been "making quiet 
representations with the government of Myanmar for the issuance of a visa to 
Dr. Aris as a compassionate and humanitarian gesture."
   Estrada said "we regret that Dr. Aris' wish to visit his wife, Daw Augn
San 
Suu Kyi, whom he had not seen for years, was not fulfilled."
   He said the Philippines "also expresses its regrets for the missed 
opportunity of a confidence building step that could have transpired" if the 
junta had allowed Aris to meet his wife a final time.
   Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the struggle 
for democracy in Myanmar, had refused to leave for London to be with her
dying 
husband, fearing the junta would not allow her back.
   The junta effectively denied Aris a visa to visit his wife in Yangon one 
last time before he died, saying he was unfit to travel and would be a burden 
on Myanmar's limited medical facilities.