Burma’s recently freed Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has joined the long list of Nobel peace laureates who have appealed to US President Barack Obama to sign a treaty that bans anti-personnel mines and requires destruction of stockpiled mines within four years.
Suu Kyi is among 16 Nobel Peace laureates, including Jody Williams and Archbishop Tutu, who have signed a letter sent to Obama on November 30, urging him to join the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Burmese leader spoke to Williams, who heads the Nobel Women's Initiative, after the latter called her on behalf of the group. Among other things, the two women spoke about the continued use of landmines in Burma, a media release said.
Williams also congratulated Suu Kyi on her release from house arrest and pledged her support and that of her sister laureates to keep up the work to free Burma’s other 2,100 political prisoners.
Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, along with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, for her work on the Mine Ban Treaty.
The treaty comprehensively bans anti-personnel mines, requires destruction of stockpiled mines within four years and urges extensive programmes to assist the victims of landmines.