By Brian Allison, local government reporter

THE HIGHEST honour Dundee can bestow—the Freedom of the City— is to be conferred on Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

There was unanimous support at last night’s meeting of the full city council for a motion by Lord Provost John Letford to make the award.

It is in recognition of her achievements in the service of democracy, which has won her the Nobel Peace Prize, and signifies the council’s support for her immediate release from house arrest and the restoration of democratic government in Burma.

In proposing the award, the council was responding to a call by Amnesty International for local authorities across the country to do so as a way of ramping up pressure on the military regime in Burma.

The council’s decision was immediately welcomed by representatives of the Dundee branch of Amnesty International, the Burma Campaign UK, trade union Unison and Dundee Trades Council.

Mr Letford compared the move to the previous Dundee District Council having granted the Freedom of the City to Nelson Mandela in 1985.

“Aung San Suu Kyi represents the best hope, perhaps the sole hope, that the Burmese people will one day be free from oppression,” he said.

“She has always campaigned for change in Burma through dialogue and not violence.”

Despite the party she leads having overwhelmingly won national elections in 1990, it has never been allowed to govern and she has been under house arrest by the military regime for more than 12 years.

SNP group leader Ken Guild said they were 100% behind Mr Letford’s motion. He said Burma had been in the grip of a military dictatorship since 1962 and it took great courage for someone to stand up against that.

Mr Guild hoped conferring the Freedom of the City on Aung San Suu Kyi, especially if other areas did something similar, would help to raise her profile in the way that had happened with Nelson Mandela.

Liberal Democrat group leader Fraser Macpherson said it was excellent the motion had attracted the support of all parties on the council.

Conservative group leader Rod Wallace said the current regime in Burma was repressive and had frustrated attempts by the rest of the world to help when the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country, killing tens of thousands of people.

Independent councillor Ian Borthwick praised the “quiet dignity” with which Aung San Suu Kyi had conducted herself over many years.

Referring to the award to Nelson Mandela, councillor Richard McCready said, “By doing this, we are again joining our voice with an international campaign.”

In a statement on behalf of Amnesty International in Dundee, the Burma Campaign UK, Unison and Dundee Trades Council, the local representatives said the city council had taken a principled stand on the issue.

The award is to be accepted by Anna Roberts, director of the Burma Campaign UK, on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi.