United Nations

 NEW YORK, 29 August (UN Headquarters) -- The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

 The Secretary-General is increasingly concerned about the well-being of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), who have been denied freedom of movement near a small town on the outskirts of Yangon since last Thursday.  The Secretary-General is monitoring the situation closely, and calls on the Government of Myanmar to take the necessary steps to quickly resolve the current stand-off in a peaceful manner.  

 The Secretary-General believes that the latest situation underlines the necessity for national reconciliation and urges the two sides to engage, as soon as possible, in a substantive political dialogue, as called for by a series of resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights.