Aung San Suu Kyi with Arnaud de Baecque, resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross to Myanmar, in Naypyidaw. Photograph: Myanmar's Presidential Press and Information Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenAung San Suu Kyi with Arnaud de Baecque, resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross to Myanmar, in Naypyidaw. Photograph: Myanmar's Presidential Press and Information Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesRed Cross visits Aung San Suu Kyi after Myanmar military pushed to prove she is aliveMeeting follows years of questions over wellbeing of detained former leader, who was ousted by coup in 2021
Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the aid organisation has confirmed.
The meeting follows years of questions over the wellbeing of the 81-year-old, whose whereabouts and health condition have been largely unknown since the elected civilian government she led was ousted by a military coup in February 2021.
Little has been seen or heard of Aung San Suu Kyi since late 2022. Myanmar’s military-backed administrations have repeatedly claimed she is in “good health”, even as international pressure has grown on Myanmar’s government to allow independent verification.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s son, Kim Aris, has recently demanded the ruling junta provide proof of life amid speculation she could be dead.
Read moreOn Monday, Arnaud de Baecque, the resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Myanmar, visited Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital, Naypyidaw, the government spokesperson Khine Khine Soe said in a post on Telegram.
View image in fullscreenPhoto released by Myanmar’s government shows Aung San Suu Kyi cutting a birthday cake during her meeting with Arnaud de Baecque. Photograph: Myanmar President Office/APIn two of the four photographs provided by Khine Khine Soe, Aung San Suu Kyi – dressed in traditional Burmese attire – is seen with Baecque in a sparsely furnished, wood-panelled room containing only two chairs and a desk.
In a statement released afterwards, the ICRC confirmed the visit had occurred and was carried out in accordance with its standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty, including the opportunity to speak with Aung San Suu Kyi in private.
“In line with the ICRC’s working methods, detention visits provide people deprived of liberty with the opportunity to exchange news with their families,” the statement said.
“As is customary in the ICRC’s detention work, observations and recommendations related to the visit are shared exclusively and confidentially with the detaining authorities.”
In late April, after a military-engineered election that allowed the former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become Myanmar’s president, authorities said Aung San Suu Kyi had been moved to house arrest.
A photograph of the detained former leader was shown on military-controlled TV, however Aris told the BBC the image was taken years ago.
While the election was largely criticised as a sham, it has led to diplomatic re-engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Read moreFollowing a meeting between Myanmar’s foreign minister and counterparts from the regional Asean bloc in Bangkok in July, Thailand’s top diplomat Sihasak Phuangketkeow called for access to Aung San Suu Kyi “so that we can be able to verify the claims” of her good health.
But the new military-backed administration had so far been reluctant to provide access to Aung San Suu Kyi, including a May request by the Philippines to allow an Asean special envoy to visit her.
Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which contains remnants of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party that was dissolved by the junta, has continued to call for her release.
“Since the national leader was arbitrarily detained and imprisoned on fabricated charges from the very beginning, she must be released unconditionally,” he said.
