Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's pages

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has responded to her "protective custody" by Burma's ruling generals by embarking on a hunger strike, her exiled supporters believe.

As the junta continued yesterday its tirade of accusations against her National League for Democracy in the state-run media, Senior General Than Shwe responded to the visit of United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail by taking a beach holiday. Mr Razali, whose four-day visit is due to end tomorrow, has not yet seen either the most powerful man in the military regime, or Ms Suu Kyi.

General Than Shwe's absence from Rangoon could be considered a personal insult to the retired Malaysian diplomat, who had had his visit dates for some time and had an expectation they would meet.

Exiled Burmese dissident Sann Aung, from the National Council for the Union of Burma, said yesterday Ms Suu Kyi's physician, Tin Myo Win, was taken into military custody in Rangoon last Wednesday.

He said the doctor's arrest might mean he had been recruited to see and treat Ms Suu Kyi for what activists say were injuries sustained in the violence on May 31.

Other sources have told The Australian that military officials took a friend of Ms Suu Kyi's in to see her, because she had refused to eat any of the food they had offered her.

The friend had taken in food, the source said, but it was not known if Ms Suu Kyi ate it.

Mr Sann Aung described General Than Shwe's absence from Rangoon as a "very bad sign", as it was clear that only the top brass would be able to grant permission for Mr Razali to see her.

Mr Razali has held meetings with the third-most powerful man in the regime, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, as well as Foreign Minister Win Aung, but has so far received no assurances that he can meet with Ms Suu Kyi.

As the British Foreign Office demanded "immediate international access" to Ms Suu Kyi, the Burmese ambassador to London, Kyaw Win, warned that the junta would "defend our sovereignty" if there was a threat of regime change. Asked if he meant the use of military action, Mr Kyaw Win told BBC television: "There are many ways of doing it. Whatever the requirements may be, we will use all means to defend ourselves."

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US had expanded its visa ban to include some members of the Union Solidarity Development Association, a military-affiliated organisation witnesses had claimed was responsible for the violence that led to Ms Suu Kyi's detention.

The generals showed no sign of diverging from their version of events yesterday, with Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt quoted in the state-run newspaper as saying the events would serve as "lessons" for those responsible for "disorderly and unruly acts".

"With or without foreign assistance, the Union of Myanmar will continue to strive for the emergence of a peaceful, developed and democratic nation," he said, using the military's name for Burma.