EU pushes Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

On the sidelines of an Asia-Europe Meeting, two top EU diplomats handed Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win a list of prisoners which he agreed to review, an official said.

European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told him the detainees should be immediately released "not just out of justice but out of humanitarian concern as many on the list are ill," said Ferrero-Waldner's spokeswoman, Emma Udwin.

"He undertook to consider the list," Udwin said. "It was a useful meeting."

"The point of this meeting was to make very clear face-to-face our concerns about the situation in this country and to press for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners," she said, without giving the number of people on the list.

"We also underlined the need of rapidly moving toward democracy," she said.

It was the first time the EU leadership has met with the Yangon junta on the level of foreign ministers, Udwin said.

She said the meeting was part of a European effort both to engage Myanmar through aid but impose "targeted sanctions" aimed at pressuring the junta.