| -Løslat verdens eneste fengslede nobelprisvinner |
| Monday 14. May 2007 | |
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59 tidligere presidenter og statsministereber om løslatelse av Aung San Suu Oppropet fra tidligere presidenter og statsministere kommer i form av et brev til lederen for Burmas militærregime, general Than Shwe. Kopi av brevet er sendt til FNs generalsekretær Ban Ki-moon og alle de 15 medlemmene av FNs sikkerhetsråd. Underskriverne av oppropet inkluderer tidligere statsledere fra Europa, USA, Sør-Amerika, Afrika og Asia. Det er en enestående begivenhet at en så stor gruppe av ledere forenes om en felles innsats på kryss av det politiske spektrum. Det viser hvor forent verdensopinionen er om denne saken. “FNs Generalforsamling, FNs tidligere menneskerettighetskommisjonen, ASEAN, EU, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan og mange andre land har anmodet om Aung San Suu Kyi’s umiddelbare løslatelse” framgår det av brevet. ”Vi ber deg inntrengende om å svare på oppfordringene fra FN og utallige land og regionale organisasjoner om å løslate Aung San Suu Kyi før 27. mai og å delta i en fredelig trepartsdialog slik FNs Generalforsamling har foreslått.” Brevet er undertegnet av en rekke tidligere stats- og regjeringsledere i Asia, inkludert Junichiro Koizumi fra Japan, Corazon Aquino og Fidel Ramos fra Filippinene, Kim Dae-jung fra Sør-Korea, Chuan Leekpai fra Thailand, V. P. Singh og Chandra Shekhar fra India, Mahathir Mohammed fra Malaysia, Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin fra Mongolia. Oppropet støttes også av USAs tidligere presidenter Jimmy Carter, George Bush (senior) og Bill Clinton. Aung San Suu Kyi er kjent for sine karismatiske Gandhi-inspirerte taler om respekt for menneskerettighetene og demokrati i det sørøstasiatiske landet Burma. Hun ledet partiet Den nasjonale liga for demokrati (NLD) og deres allierte til en brakseier, med 82% oppslutning, i Burmas siste demokratiske valg i 1990. Militærregimet har nektet å anerkjenne valgresultatet og har holdt henne i husarrest i mer enn 11 av de siste 17 år. Etter massakren i Depayin i 2003 hvor over 70 NLD-medlemmer ble drept av en regimestøttet mobb, har hun sittet kontinuerlig i husarrest. Aung San Suu Kyi har blitt tildelt over 60 internasjonale priser for sin innsats for fredlig endring i Burma, bl.a. Sakharovprisen fra Europaparlamentet, Presidentens frihetsmedalje fra daværende president Bill Clinton i USA og Nobels fredspris i 1991. I 1990 mottok hun Raftoprisen. Brevet påpeker at husarresten Aung San Suu Kyi nå er underlagt vil utløpe 27. mai 2007, og at FNs Generalsekretær ikke har fått noe tilbakemelding på sin offentlige anmodning frigivelse. Brevet og de som har signert: May 15, 2007 Senior General Than Shwe Naypyidaw Burma Dear Senior General Than Shwe: We are writing this public letter to call for the immediate release of the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her most recent term of house arrest is scheduled to end on May 27, 2007. On January 8, 2007, new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on you to release Aung San Suu Kyi. May 27, 2007 affords an excellent opportunity to respond to his request. Indeed, the UN General Assembly, former UN Commission on Human Rights, ASEAN, European Union, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and many other countries have all called for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release. The 2006 UN General Assembly resolution on Burma, which passed overwhelmingly, expressed “grave concern” at “the extension of the house arrest of the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi” and strongly called upon your government to “to release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, including National League for Democracy leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo.” Aung San Suu Kyi is not calling for revolution in Burma, but rather peaceful, nonviolent dialogue between the military, National League for Democracy, and Burma’s ethnic groups. The UN General Assembly resolution, and 15 previous resolutions also support this approach. We strongly urge you to respond to the United Nations and countless other countries and regional groupings around the world by releasing Aung San Suu Kyi before May 27th and committing to participate in peaceful, tripartite dialogue as outlined by the General Assembly. Sincerely, 1. The Honorable Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín Former President of Argentina (1983-1989) 2. The Honorable Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri Former Prime Minister of East Timor (2002-2006) 3. The Honorable Sadiq Al-Mahdi Former Prime Minister of Sudan (1966-1967, 1989-1989) 4. The Honorable Halldór Ásgrímsson Former Prime Minister of Iceland (2004-2006) 5. The Honorable Corazon C. Aquino Former President of the Philippines (1986-1992) 6. The Honorable Benazir Bhutto Former Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990) 7. The Honorable Kjell Magne Bondevik Former Prime Minister of Norway (1997-2000, 2001-2005) 8. The Honorable Gro Harlem Brundtland Former Prime Minister of Norway (1981, 1986-1989, 1990-1996) 9. The Honorable George H.W. Bush Former President of the United States of America (1989-1993) 10. The Honorable Jerzy Buzek Former Prime Minister of Poland (1997-2001) 11. The Right Honourable Kim Campbell Former Prime Minister of Canada (1993) 12. The Honorable Jimmy Carter Former President of the United States of America (1977-1981) 13. The Honorable Joaquim Alberto Chissano Former President of Mozambique (1986-2005) 14. The Honorable William J. Clinton Former President of the United States of America (1993-2001) 15. The Honorable Fernando Henrique Cardoso Former President of Brazil (1995-2003) 16. The Honorable Chuan Leekpai Former Prime Minister of Thailand (1992-1995, 1997-2001) 17. The Honorable Jacques Delors Former President of the European Commission (1985-1995) 18. The Honorable Philip Dimitrov Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1991-1992) 19. The Honorable Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin Former Prime Minister of Mongolia (1998, 2004-2006) 20. The Honorable José María Figueres Former President of Costa Rica (1994-1998) 21. The Honorable Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Former President of Iceland (1980-1996) 22. The Honorable César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo Former President of Colombia (1990-1994) Former Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (1994-2004) 23. The Honorable Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera Former President of Uruguay (1990-1995) 24. The Honorable Václav Havel Former President of the Czech Republic (1990-2003) 25. The Honorable Thorbjørn Jagland Former Prime Minister of Norway (1996-1997) 26. The Honorable Lionel Jospin Former Prime Minister of France (1997-2002) 27. The Honorable Kim Dae-jung Former President of South Korea (1998-2003) 28. The Honorable Junichiro Koizumi Former Prime Minister of Japan (2001-2006) 29. The Honorable Aleksander KwaśniewskiFormer President of Poland (1995-2005) 30. The Honorable Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar Former President of Chile (2000-2006) 31. The Honorable Árpád Göncz Former President of Hungary (1990-2000) 32. The Honorable Kenneth Kaunda Former President of Zambia (1974-1991) 33. The Honorable Lee Hong-Koo Former Prime Minister of South Korea (1994-1995) 34. The Honorable Paavo Lipponen Former Prime Minister of Finland (1995-2003) 35. The Honorable Mahathir Mohamed Former Prime Minister of Malaysia (1981-2003) 36. The Right Honourable Sir John Major, KG CH PC Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1990-1997) 37. The Honorable Megawati Sukarnoputri Former President of Indonesia (2001-2004) 38. The Honorable Rexhep Meidani Former President of the Republic of Albania (1997-2002) 39. The Honorable Benjamin William Mkapa Former President of Tanzania (1995-2005) 40. The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney Former Prime Minister of Canada (1984-1993) 41. The Honorable Davíð Oddsson Former Prime Minister of Iceland (1991-2004) 42. The Honorable Andrés Pastrana Arango Former President of Colombia (1998-2002) 43. The Honorable Göran Persson Former Prime Minister of Sweden (1996-2006) 44. The Honorable Fidel V. Ramos Former President of the Philippines (1992-1998) 45. The Honorable Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Former Prime Minister of Denmark (1993-2001) 46. The Honorable Mary Robinson Former President of Ireland (1990-1997) 47. The Honorable Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé Former President of the Republic of Bolivia (2005-2006) 48. The Honorable Petre Roman Former Prime Minister of Romania (1989-1991) 49. The Honorable Amos Claudius Sawyer Former President of Liberia (1990-1994) 50. The Honorable Chandra Shekhar Former Prime Minister of India (1990-1991) 51. The Honorable Vishwanath Pratap Singh Former Prime Minister of India (1989-1990) 52. The Honorable Mário Soares Former President of Portugal (1986-1996) Former Prime Minister of Portugal (1976-1978, 1983-1985) 53. The Right Honourable Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1979-1990) 54. The Honorable Alejandro Toledo Former President of Peru (2001-2006) 55. The Honorable Jorge Quiroga Former President of Bolivia (2001-2002) 56. The Honorable Ung Huot Former Prime Minister of Cambodia (1997-1998) 57. The Honorable Casam Uteem Former President of the Republic of Mauritius (1992-2002) 58. The Honorable Abdurrahman Wahid Former President of Indonesia (1991-2001) 59. The Honorable Lech WałęsaFormer President of Poland (1990-1995) cc: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Members of the UN Security Council U Aung Shwe, Chairman, National League for Democracy |
