Burma's military government denied today US assertions that detained opposition leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was on a hunger strike, which had intensified calls for her immediate release.
Ms Suu Kyi's supporters and independent observers said they could not confirm the report, which Yangon called groundless. "The Ministry of Foreign affairs of Myanmar (Burma) dismisses the claim by the State Department," the ministry said in a brief statement.
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Myanmarese pro-democracy demonstrators in Tokyo hold up a photo of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi
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The US State Department said yesterday that Ms Suu Kyi - in detention for three months - was fasting in protest against her confinement and that Washington was deeply concerned about her.
A senior member of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) could not confirm the US assertion. "We have learned this news from the international media and we are really concerned about her health, but we still cannot confirm whether it is true or not," he said.
Washington's hunger strike statement came a day after new Burma Prime Minister Khin Nyunt promised a "road map to democracy" in a speech three months after Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained.She was arrested on May 30th with dozens of supporters after a clash between her backers and pro-government youths.
The government says she is being held for her own protection and will not say where she is. It says she will be freed when the political temperature cools.
Red Cross officials who were allowed to meet Ms Suu Kyi in July, believed to be her last contact with the outside world, also could not confirm the report.
Amnesty International, which says rights abuses have worsened in Burma since the May 30th clash, said today it was "gravely concerned" by the US report and demanded her release.
The United States and the European Union have imposed tougher sanctions, while Japan has frozen new aid. Burma's neighbors oppose sanctions, but they issued an unprecedented rebuke in June and say she must be freed.