Myanmar hints at Suu Kyi release

Myanmar's military government has hinted that it could free Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's detained opposition leader, within six months.

The suggestion, reportedly made by Myanmar's foreign minister, Nyan Win, came as members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) issued a strong rebuke expressing their "deep disappointment" at Aung San Suu Kyi's continued house arrest.

Opening a four-day annual security summit in Singapore, the joint statement also urged Myanmar's rulers to engage in a "meaningful dialogue with all political groups and work toward a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future".

The 10-nation Asean group includes Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and it is rare for the organisation to take such a strong stance on a member state's internal affairs.

According to George Yeo, Singapore's foreign minister, Nyan Win told him during a pre-summit dinner on Sunday that under Myanmar law a political detainee can be held for a maximum period of only six years.

"He told me that the six-year limit will come up in about half a year's time," Yeo told reporters on Sunday.

Asked whether that meant she could be freed, he said: "I am just repeating to you what he told me and I think that is not an inaccurate inference."

House arrest extended

In May, Myanmar's ruling military announced it was extending Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for another 12 months.

It is not clear how the foreign minister's suggestion that she could be...

Head of Movement for Democratic Change cites violence against supporters as main reason for boycott.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, has announced that he will not take part in the run-off presidential election against Robert Mugabe, the country’s long-standing president.

Tsvangirai said on Sunday that Mugabe has “declared war by saying that the bullet has replaced the ballot”, and so his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will not be a part of the June 27 vote.

Citing violence against his supporters as a major reason for the withdrawal, Tsvangirai called on the United Nations and the African Union to intervene to stop “genocide” in Zimbabwe.

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South Africa: Grant Temporary Status to All Zimbabweans

Because of South Africa’s dysfunctional asylum system, many asylum seekers’ claims are not examined adequately and others are not able to lodge their claims at all. Because its deportation practices are also arbitrary and haphazard, many of the tens of thousands of Zimbabweans registered as asylum seekers in South Africa are at risk of refoulement, the forcible return to persecution in Zimbabwe, a fundamental breach of international refugee law. As a party to the refugee convention, South Africa is bound by the principle of non-refoulement, and may not send people back to face persecution.