Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a statement released during her tour of Africa, said Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi "should not have been tried and should not have been convicted."

Reacting to the new 18-month house arrest sentence, Clinton again called on the Myanmar military rulers to lift Suu Kyi's house arrest, and also to release the more than
2,000 political prisoners being held in the country's prisons.

"The Burmese junta should immediately end its repression of so many in this country, start a dialogue with the opposition and the ethnic groups," said the statement issued from Washington.

Failure to do this, Clinton warned, would mean "the elections they have scheduled for next year will have absolutely no legitimacy." (dpa)