Myanmar rejects criticism over Suu Kyi

Suu Kyi has not left Myanmar since 1988

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Responding to calls from Nobel Peace Prize winners to release fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's military government said it was working with the opposition leader to create "a functioning democracy".

But it did not say whether Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past decade under house arrest, would be released.

"Today we are all in the process of joining hands walking on the same path towards our common objective while successfully maintaining the hard-won peace, stability and the national unity which the nation is at present enjoying for the first time in its modern history," the government said in a statement dated Sunday.

South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu and East Timorese freedom fighter Jose Ramos-Horta led a gathering of 30 Nobel Peace Prize winners in Oslo, demanding Suu Kyi's release.

"We know that Aung San Suu Kyi, you are on the winning side and we want to say to [the Myanmar government] join the winning side," Tutu said.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the peace prize in 1991 for her non-violent resistance to the military regime and her campaigning for democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

Despite her opposition National League for Democracy party winning a general election in 1990 by a landslide, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest and has not left Myanmar since 1988.

The ruling junta never allowed the NLD to rule, saying that the country could descend into chaos if the military's grip on power was weakened.

Recent talks between the opposition and the government have raised hopes of a breakthrough.

Tributes flow

EXTRA INFORMATION IN-DEPTH: Nobel centennial    MORE STORIES • Laureates speak out on conflict

In Oslo to celebrate a century of the coveted award, Nobel Peace Prize laureates and dignitaries heaped praise on Suu Kyi.

"We're all thinking of the empty chair that belongs to Aung Suu Kyi, and we are looking forward to the day when she will actually come here and deliver her Nobel lecture," Geir Lundestad, secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said .

U.S. President George W. Bush sent a message to the conference praising Suu Kyi and her campaign for democracy.

"As a tireless champion of human rights and democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi inspires countless people around the world who strive for peace, justice and freedom," Bush said in a statement read to the crowd.

"In the face of great hardship she has never wavered in her commitment to peaceful change."

Secret talks

Secretive talks between the government and opposition party began last year

Myanmar has often criticized what its calls "interference" from western governments over its internal political affairs but said in the statement that relations with the opposition are warming.

"The government of Myanmar warmly appreciates the opinions, concerns and interest of its partners in the international community and believes that all of us are on the winning side already since we all have the common objective of creating Myanmar to become a functioning democracy," the statement said.

"But regretfully in the past due to misunderstanding between the NLD party and the government of Myanmar, cooperation did not exist."

Talks, brokered by United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, between the government and the NLD began in secret last year.

Since then dozens of political prisoners have been released and the Myanmar government has allowed the NLD to reopen several offices.