In Burma, more than twenty people were arrested Tuesday protesting the extended house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The protest came hours after the junta announced it was extending Suu Kyi’s detention for between six months to a year. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party won national elections in 1990 but was kept out of office by the junta. She has spent twelve of the last eighteen years in detention. Aye Chan Naing of the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma said the junta is even breaking its own rules.

Aye Chan Naing: “Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest by the regime under the State Protection Act in 2003, and according to this law, they cannot keep her more than five years. So it means that they have to release her during this month, and this is another clear example of the regime breaking their own rules and regulations.”

Suu Kyi’s extended detention could further complicate international aid efforts in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Donors have been reluctant to send aid out of fear the junta will use it to solidify power. On Tuesday, aid groups renewed criticism of the junta for blocking access to the worst-hit areas. Thomas Gurtner of the Red Cross said Burma remains on the brink of further catastrophe.

Thomas Gurtner: “There is no doubt that unless we manage to have a quantum in the output of aid, we are going to see a major deterioration of the situation.”

The cyclone has left at least 130,000 people dead or missing in Burma.