Outrage over Myanmar’s detention of Suu Kyi

The regime's move comes a week after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the isolationist country and announced he had made progress with its ruling general, freeing up a logjam of aid and foreign experts that has been restricted from entering Myanmar's hard-hit delta.

Regret over junta's decision
Ban said he briefly touched on politics during his meetings in Myanmar. Back in New York he expressed regret at the junta's decision.

"The sooner restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards inclusive national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights," he said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the U.N. said some of its foreign staffers have begun moving into the delta and emergency food supplies are being ferried in on its helicopters.

The French warship Mistral arrived Wednesday off the shore of neighboring Thailand, to unload some 1,000 tons of humanitarian supplies for shipment by the U.N. to Myanmar.

The regime has forbidden direct delivery of aid by French, U.S. and British military ships, which have been standing by off Myanmar's coast since shortly after the cyclone struck. Myanmar's state media has voiced fears of a U.S. invasion to grab the country's oil reserves.

However, Ban said Myanmar's government appears to be living up to its pledge to open up to foreign aid workers.

"I hope — and I believe — that this marks a new spirit of cooperation between Myanmar and the international community as a whole," he said.

Myanmar's leaders are leery of foreign aid workers and international agencies because they fear an influx of outsiders could undermine their control. The junta is also hesitant to have its people see aid coming directly from countries such as the United States, which it has long treated as a hostile power.

But the ruling generals regard Suu Kyi, daughter of the country's martyred independence leader Gen. Aung San, as the biggest threat to their power.

She was awarded her Nobel prize in absentia in 1991 for her nonviolent attempts at promoting democracy. Suu Kyi's latest period of detention started in May 2003.

U.S. Navy ready to withdraw ships
Meanwhile, the senior commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific says the Navy probably will withdraw a group of naval vessels from waters off the coast of Myanmar within days unless the government allows the ships to offload their relief supplies for cyclone victims.

Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said Wednesday he would discuss the matter later this week with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Singapore, where they will attend an international security conference.

"Absent a green light from Burmese officials, I don't think she will be there for weeks," Keating told a Pentagon news conference, referring to the Essex. "Days, and then we'll see."

The admiral said the Myanmar authorities' refusal to let the Navy provide relief aid is frustrating. He described the sailors and Marines aboard the Essex as "desperate" to provide help.

The Myanmar government has allowed a limited number of U.S. Air Force C-130s to bring in water and other relief supplies from a base in Thailand. Keating said 70 such flights have been flown thus far.

Accompanying the Essex in waters off Myanmar are the USS Juneau, the USS Harper's Ferry and the USS Mustin. The Essex has 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as 1,500 Marines. U.S. officials have proposed using the helicopters to distribute relief aid from the Rangoon airport to outlying areas closer to the cyclone victims.

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