Kevin Rudd has called on Burma to guarantee democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's safety when she travels around the country

Mr Rudd said yesterday he had met with the country's new president, Thein Sein, and had made a personal appeal for the release of 2000 other political prisoners, telling him that doing so would transform international views of the new government.

He spoke to reporters during a stop-over in Singapore on his way home from a visit to Burma.

A source from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has said she plans to travel outside the main city Rangoon for the first time since being freed from seven years of house arrest last year, but politics is not on the agenda.

Mr Rudd said the global community would be watching closely how the government would ensure the Nobel Peace Prize winner's security.




Start of sidebar.
The issue is a major concern because during a previous political trip in 2003, her convoy was attacked in an ambush apparently organised by the military regime at that time.

"She has made plans that she intends to campaign elsewhere within Burma in the period ahead and that cause is her democratic right," Rudd said.

"What I would say very clearly to the Burmese authorities... is it is absolutely critical that the Burmese government guarantee Aung San Suu Kyi's security while such a tour of the country was undertaken," Rudd added.

"I believe all governments around the world would be looking very carefully at how the security is provided for by the government."

Burma's official media last Wednesday said the home affairs ministry had written to Suu Kyi to state that her party's activities had broken the law.

It was the first time since her release that the authorities had explicitly warned her to stay out of politics.

Australia's top diplomat said he spent "several hours" with Suu Kyi earlier yesterday, and she told him she responded to the ministry's letter by suggesting a dialogue and was awaiting a response.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is in very good spirits," mr Rudd said. "She is a very determined person. She is a person of enormous will, determination, and, I would say, just plain political guts."

Suu Kyi was freed in November, days after the country held an election that critics said was a charade aimed at hiding military rule behind a civilian facade.

Despite releasing Suu Kyi, Burma has been under pressure to free other political prisoners as one demonstration that it's serious about undertaking democratic reforms.

Mr Rudd said he told the Burmese leader that the "single action" of releasing the detainees "will have a significant, transformative effect on the international community's attitude to the newly established government".

"These prisoners remain as prisoners of conscience within Burma, and the international community awaits action... in ensuring that these people obtain freedom," Mr Rudd said.