Myanmar’s government is preparing to release prisoners under an amnesty, for the second time in just over a month, “very soon” and more political detainees should be among them, a senior official said on Sunday. Details of the amnesty would become clear within two days, the official at the interior ministry said, and political detainees, sometimes called “prisoners of conscience,” would be included. “Of course, those referred to as prisoners of conscience will be released very, very soon and the rest of them will be moved to the detention centers close to their families,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Myanmar new civilian government, which took office on March 30, freed about 230 political detainees in a general amnesty on October 12, a move welcomed by the West as sign that the former generals in charge might start to ease their strict control of the country after five decades of military rule. If the amnesty goes ahead in the next two days, it would coincide with the start of an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on the Indonesian island of Bali, and would strengthen Myanmar’s case for taking the rotating ASEAN presidency in 2014, two years ahead of schedule. Analysts say hosting the summit would help to satisfy the government’s craving for legitimacy and help it present a case for concrete assistance from international financial institutions to overhaul the resource-rich country’s long-stagnant economy.
