By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - Western governments lashed out at theextension of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest,but the outrage at Myanmar's generals was tempered by concernover disrupting aid flows to desperate cyclone victims.
The former Burma has been promised millions of dollars inWestern aid after Cyclone Nargis, but this cut no ice with thejunta regarding the opposition leader, who has been under housearrest or in prison for nearly 13 of the last 18 years.
Officials drove to Suu Kyi's lakeside Yangon home onTuesday to read out an extension order in person, but it wasunclear whether the extension was for six months or a year.
"It is more likely one year," said a senior police sourceclose to officials in charge of Suu Kyi's detention.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who just returned toNew York from an aid mission in Myanmar, expresseddisappointment but refrained from sharp criticism.
"The sooner restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and otherpolitical figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be ableto move toward ... restoration of democracy and full respectfor human rights," he said.
He added that his special envoy to Myanmar, IbrahimGambari, would raise the issue of Suu Kyi with the junta.Gambari's previous missions have so far failed to coax anymeaningful concessions from the generals.
Western nations were more forthright in their criticism ofSuu Kyi's ongoing detention.
U.S. President George W. Bush said he was "deeply troubled"by the extension and called for the more than 1,000 politicalprisoners in Myanmar to be freed. However, the State Departmentsaid it would not affect U.S. cyclone aid.
The 62-year-old Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy(NLD) won a 1990 poll by a landslide only to be denied power bythe military, which has ruled the impoverished country for 46years.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldnersaid the generals missed a historic opportunity to reconcile"political life in Myanmar at a time when national and socialcohesion, and solidarity and dialogue are more needed thanever."
ACCESS IMPROVING, SAYS UN
Few had expected Suu Kyi to be released, but the extensionwas a reminder of the junta's refusal to make any concessionson the domestic political front despite its grudging acceptanceof foreign help after the May 2 cyclone.
Three weeks after the cyclone's 120 mph (190 kph) winds andsea surge devastated the delta, the United Nations said it hadraised roughly 60 percent of its initial $200 million (100million pound) target for aid for Myanmar and aid workers weregetting more access.
"We've reached just over a million people with some kind ofaid," U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes toldreporters.
Junta leader Senior General Than Shwe promised U.N. chiefBan last week that he would allow all legitimate foreign aidworkers access to victims across the country.
Holmes said he did not know if all roadblocks had beenremoved, but the situation was better.
"There's still a lot of people out there who have receivednothing or certainly not enough," he said.
In the delta, thousands of beggars line the roads, anddroves of children shout "Just throw something!" at passingvehicles.
Witnesses say many villages have received no outside help,and the waterways of the former Burma's "rice bowl" remainlittered with bloated and rotting animal carcasses and corpses.
The government has softened its line that immediate reliefphase of the disaster was over, saying on Wednesday that localdonors could now deliver aid in the delta.
"Individuals and organisations wishing to do so may goright down to the storm-hit towns, wards and villages of theirchoice," said a statement published in the New Light ofMyanmar, the generals' main mouthpiece.
Much of the blame for the delayed aid effort has fallen onthe junta which has been reluctant to admit a large-scaleinternational relief for fear that would loosen the grip onpower the army has held since a 1962 coup.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the UnitedNations; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Darren Schuettler andSanjeev Miglani)
