Myanmar's junta extended the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, a move likely to dismay Western nations who promised millions of dollars in aid after Cyclone Nargis.
Officials drove to the Nobel laureate's lakeside Yangon home to read out a six-month extension order in person, said a government official, who asked not to be named.
However, a Yangon-based diplomat said it was for a year.
The 62-year-old Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power by the army, has now spent nearly 13 of the last 18 years under some form of arrest.
Her latest period of detention started on May 30, 2003 "for her own protection" after clashes between her supporters and pro-junta thugs in the northern town of Depayin. The last of a series of year-long extensions expired on Tuesday.
Although few expected Suu Kyi to be released, the extension is a timely reminder of the ruling military's refusal to make any concessions on the domestic political front despite its grudging acceptance of foreign help after the May 2 cyclone.
Hours before the extension, police arrested 20 NLD members trying to march to Suu Kyi's home.
State-controlled media on Tuesday praised the United Nations for the help it has given to the 2.4 million people left destitute in the Irrawaddy delta, suggesting a thaw in the junta's frosty relationship with the outside world.
The English-language New Light of Myanmar, the generals' main mouthpiece, said U.N. agencies took "prompt action" to provide relief supplies after the cyclone, which left 134,000 people dead or missing.
Activists criticised U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for not speaking out about Suu Kyi's detention during his recent visit to Myanmar, which the U.N. chief said was purely a humanitarian mission.
"It is shameful that Ban Ki-Moon went to Burma and failed even to utter her name," Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK, said.
"He is playing into the regime's hands. The U.N. is crawling on its knees before the regime, afraid to speak the truth in case it affects aid access deals, which the regime is already breaking in any case," he said.
"JUST THROW SOMETHING"
