Myanmar dissident prevented from traveling again

Suu Kyi was stopped from traveling outside Yangon

In this story: U.S., EU condemn military's action Party asks for help with food, water RELATED STORIES, SITES

YANGON, Myanmar -- Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was stopped by police from traveling outside the capital and was preparing to spend a second night in her car Friday.

It was Suu Kyi's first attempt to leave Yangon in two years. In similar standoffs with the military in 1998, she remained in her car for nearly six days on one occasion and another time for 13 days.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner's National League for Democracy party said in a statement that her being stopped from traveling by Myanmar's military government was illegal.

The military government said she was stopped for her own protection. "Due to threats of violence by armed insurgent separatist forces, travel by prominent persons to some parts of the country is at present inadvisable," a government statement said Friday.

Another government statement released late Friday night said the 55-year-old Suu Kyi and her travel companions "continue to rest" in the Yangon suburb where they were stopped. It said "the local authorities make every effort to ensure their comfort and safety."

Security problems have rarely been reported in Kungyangon, 30 miles south of Yangon, where Suu Kyi was planning to go for party organizational work when her car was stopped Thursday afternoon.

Suu Kyi crossed the Yangon river in a ferry and got into a Toyota car with her party's Vice Chairman Tin Oo and another senior party official, the government statement said. It said the car was stopped by police and she was asked to return to Yangon.

Officials of her National League for Democracy confirmed the account.

U.S., EU condemn military's action

Both the United States and the European Union deplored the military's action.

"The U.S. condemns this abridgment of Aung San Suu Kyi's right to freedom of movement and her right to visit whomever she chooses," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

The State Department said the United States was concerned about the health and safety of Suu Kyi's group and would hold the Myanmar authorities directly accountable for their welfare.

The European Union also demanded on Friday that Myanmar lift travel restrictions on Suu Kyi and called on the government to begin a dialogue with opposition parties.

Great Britain also condemned the action.

"To restrict leaders of a democratic political party from moving around the country is a denial of fundamental human and political rights," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said.

Suu Kyi's virtual detention and her refusal to back down was her latest clash of will with the military government, which has ruled this Southeast Asian nation, formerly known as Burma, since 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising she helped lead.

In 1989 Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. The order was lifted in 1995 but her movements have remained restricted. The government also refuses to honor the results of the 1990 general elections in which her party won a landslide.

She tried to leave Yangon four times in 1998 but was stopped by the military.

Once, when stopped on a trip to the Irrawaddy Delta town of Pathein, she remained in her car for nearly six days in protest.

When police brought her back to Yangon, she said the treatment constituted "being kidnapped."

On the fourth occasion when stopped, Suu Kyi stayed in her car for 13 days before returning home voluntarily on her doctor's advice.

Party asks for help with food, water

On Friday, the National League for Democracy requested that party members and local residents of Dala suburb, where her car was stuck, provide food and water to Suu Kyi and others.

Suu Kyi's car and her supporters' van were moved to a small lane off the main road and blocked from traveling further by two trucks parked on both ends of the street, a witness said.

About a half-dozen uniformed policemen and several plainclothes agents were at the scene, and an ambulance was nearby, the witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another witness said government workers brought food from a restaurant for Suu Kyi, but she refused to eat it, preferring the guava and other fruit given by local residents.

Reporters who tried to take the ferry across the river to Dala on Friday morning were politely told by a plainclothes security official not to go. Regular commuters were allowed to cross, however.

Party sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Suu Kyi wanted to go to Kungyangon for party organizational work.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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