After All, There Is No Free And Fair Election In America's So-called Democracy?

No one blamed Joe Biden when Ebola struck West Africa, but Americans are blaming Donald Trump for the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The US presidential election was held on November 3, and Joe Biden, the political rival of Trump, won the presidential race. Since then, Trump, who is not happy about the election results, has repeatedly claimed the elections were rigged.

Being an African writer, I have something different to share about this accusation. There are many products in this world that good marketing strategies of lies and deceptions have made them very special and famous indeed, but once you become familiar with any of these products, you will find out that they are not really what they are. 

The same thing applies to the United States of America. Everyone sees America as a great country, built on the foundation of democracy; and very often the leaders interfere in other governmental affairs, and around the world, persuading countries under military including Africa, to emulate democracy.

 

On many occasions, American officials go to troubled countries in the third world to monitor elections, just to avoid any political unrest and make sure the elections as free and fair. But now what are we reading in the papers about just the concluded America's 2020 presidential elections? Trump is accusing the Democrats of election fraud.

Whether this is true or false, America has proven that there are loopholes in its democracy, and after all, there is nothing called free and fair elections in America, despite going to other countries to monitor elections. I have said it over and over, yet still, I am not tired of saying that there is nothing special about America.

In fact, the countries' bad policies, arrogance, and foolish pride haven't only brought untold hardships to Americans but to the entire world. Political greed and the thirst for power have generated hate for America, leading all of us to the slaughterhouse of COVID-19 today. 

This same hate nearly escalated to the third world war when America and North Korea were at loggerheads. This is what I write, and nobody should expect me to write anything different because everyone knows that when it comes to crimes, including medical, committed against humanity by European and American leaders, their journalists never write the truth.

That is the reason decades after HIV-AIDS and Ebola biological weapons hit mankind, European and American journalists, many of whom were at the university, including CNN's Sanjay Gupta, keep deceiving the world that monkeys brought from the Philippines to America caused HIV-AIDS, while poverty, bushmeat, and bats are responsible for Ebola. God will punish each one of them at the right time.

“They made the world so hard (so hard):
Every day we've got to keep on fighting (fighting);
They made their world so hard (so hard):
Every day, the people are dying (dying), yeah!
(It dread, dread) For hunger (dread, dread) and starvation,” says Bob Marley in one of his great songs called “One Drop.”

 "America, the land of opportunity, freedom, and democracy"—that is what many like to say about this country. Yet, in the same country live the descendants of slavery, who are now African-Americans, yet can't breathe decades after the abolition of slavery.

"They say in God, we trust," yet America promotes racism, discrimination, and white supremacy, and in the past, either used black people for experiments or intentionally inflicted them with diseases. 

"Father, (God) if you are really there as I believe, please, then hear my humble cry because I can't really understand why a whole nation that even claims to have prophets, will continue to abuse your name in such a manner."

Many think Donald Trump's inefficiency as a president is one of the reasons America is facing such a crisis in the time of the coronavirus pandemic. You see, there is time for everything: a time to be happy, a time to be sad, a time to die, a time a new baby is born. The truth is more bitter than the bile, but we must say it even if that will lead us to the gallows.

Donald Trump is just a scapegoat; unfortunately for him, his cup is full. That has cost him his second term in office. I can't believe that the so-called prophets didn't see that Trump's cup was full; instead, they said God told them Trump would win the 2020 presidential elections.

Reference: The Baal Prophets Of America 2020 Elections That Victory Prophecies For Trump Failed

Many pastors, including Pat Robertson, Paula White, and Chris Oyakhilome, prophesied that Trump would win the 2020 elections, but he lost.

The fact is, if the rain falls, it doesn't fall on one man's house, so, every country that in the past have supported the US government's crimes, have now got its share of the coronavirus, a biological weapon which similar has hit Africa, of which the WHO, CDC, and the US government said monkeys, bushmeat and bats are responsible. 

Who knows? Maybe dogmeat caused the coronavirus because the Chinese eat dogs.

Kim Jong-Un Is Still There, But Trump Is Gone

Trump has miserably lost the presidential race to Biden, kicking him out from the White House

In life, if you want to be respected, then give the same respect to others. A pastor who preaches virtue to his congregation and practices vice will not only be disrespected but will also lose all his church members. This is exactly what has happened to Donald Trump, after losing to Biden.

In the name of democracy, the American government has established itself in the eyes of the world as a great nation and the land of opportunity but they have no respect for human lives.

Pride, arrogance, underestimation, disrespect, violation of human rights, oppression, medical crimes, etc, are part of America's constitution of democracy that many, especially, poor people in Third World Countries have experienced. 


There is a big difference between respect and fear but it seems the American government has taken respect from poor countries as a fear. Thus, the government takes advantage of the weak and the vulnerable to do everything they like whether good or bad. 

Many world leaders know about the clandestine works of the American government but they hardly speak about it. In the past and present America has committed so much crime against its own people by using them for experimentation and also testing deadly diseases as bio-warfare products on other people outside America. 

The American government enjoys every crime as long as there isn't any confrontation from any part of the world but now some world leaders are becoming fed up and wouldn't tolerate any more from America. One of them is Kim Jong-Un of North Korea.

Frankly speaking, the North Korean leader has no respect for America and the hate he has for that country is beyond description. 

The present showdown between America and North Korea has caught the interest of many countries, especially the enemies of the American government and many hope Kim Jong-Un will teach America a big lesson. 

The question on the lips of many is: Why Kim Jong-Un has been so disrespectful to America? Why was he challenging America to its core by testing missiles despite all the warnings? Why did North Korea treat Otto Warmbier like that to his death? Why Trump can't tame the North Korean leader?

Kim Jong-un doesn’t respect America because he has witnessed how the American government used supremacy to oppress the weak and vulnerable people. Kim Jong-Un knows about the US government’s bio-weapons project for global depopulation, leading to the test of Aids and Ebola in Africa.

For a very long time, like a spy, the North Korean leader knows about the secret killings of scientists and doctors in the country. There is nothing evil or good taking place in America without his knowledge. The man wouldn't have bothered much but he was provoked when the American government popped its nose in North Korea's business.

How can a killer call someone else a killer? That's exactly what America did. The American government covers up its crimes while attacking Kim Jong-Un with publications that he has executed his late uncle's entire family to prevent 'mutiny' - including women and children.

No one is neither defending Kim Jong-Un nor refuting the accusations but the American government does worse things than North Korea. It was when America started interfering in North Korea's politics, the leader also starts revealing the secrets of the American government, including the testing of Ebola in Africa.

Do people expect the North Korean leader to respect the American government? Not at all, that will not happen. These are some of the reasons he continues to show disrespect to the American government testing the eleventh missile so far. The North Korean leader has been in violation forever and doesn't care. 

America is a sad country indeed than what many people think. Their definition of superpower or democracy has been abused making the country one of the most hated countries in the world. The government always dictates to Third World governments, but they don’t listen to anyone.

Trump knows that the North Korean leader is a dangerous man. Over the tension between North Korea and America, Trump started in a very bad way with threats and boasts over the might of the American army. But Kim Jong-Un is not an African leader America can intimidate.

Weeks after Trump couldn't change the mind of Jong-Un, he played it diplomatically saying: "I Would Be Honored to Meet With N. Korean Dictator – Under the Right Circumstances." The US government calls him a dictator but he is there and now where is Donald Trump? Out of the White House.

VIOLENT AMERICA UNDER A TWISTED DEMOCRACY

Violence and Racism have soiled the American flag

Over the decades, the United States government has interfered in other countries’ political affairs, criticizing and calling for a change. But today, our generation has lived to see the country that always preaches about democracy, could be one of the most violent and racially divided countries in the world.

 

America has completely deviated from the path of democracy towards anarchy because of the continuous system of institutional racism, discrimination, political greed, and Apartheid system of government, under conditions of suffrage, political hate, and medical deceptions.

 

Until recently, that is after the death of George Floyd, all American leaders did nothing significant about racism in the country. Caucasian cops kill blacks with impunity as the whole world, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Holland, watches without a word.

 

Therefore, baffles me if Joe Biden is now accusing Trump of racism and violence in his speeches, when for decades every American leader, including Obama and Biden himself, supported every crime against black people in the United States of America and Europe.

 

Every American or European leader is not a fool, they know that racial violence can cause havoc and destruction but nobody cares because they are interested to oppress black people than making their lives better. They scream “White power,” because they fear the power of the black man.

 

“White people will fully understand the cruelty and the wickedness of the black man, if black people will rise against the white man and do exactly what they did to black people in slavery, colonialism, Apartheid, killing, hanging, racism, discrimination, burning and lynching, but we shall not do that because black people are civilized.”- Joel Savage

 

America is bleeding because Donald Trump knows that about 70% of the population is racist, therefore, he is not doing anything about the political violence that has erupted in the country and he is not willing to do anything about the members of the Ku Klux Klan in police uniforms pumping bullets into unarmed blacks.

 

What has happened in the past and current situation in America, don’t reflect on anything about America’s version of democracy. In my opinion, the killings of innocent people, the political and medical crimes around the globe, have eventually come back to take their sweet revenge on America.

America Is Under Leaders That Neither Repent Of Its Crimes Nor Reject Sins

America's democracy is the oppression of black people

“I am convinced that the Bible is the best gift that God has ever given a person. All the best from the Savior of the world is passed on to us through this book.”- This statement was made by Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th President of the United States of America.

 

His statement reflects on how the Bible has proved to be a great book in the American society but after him, what role did the Bible play in the hands of other American leaders? 

America is a country well defined as a land of opportunity but also it may likely be one of the cruelest countries in the world, in the shadow of democracy.

 

Power corrupts the mind; thus, the influence of power on American leaders, continue to be a disaster and oppression to poor and weak nations but a delight to American leaders.  I have never seen a country that has so much pleasure in wickedness than the United States of America.

 

It is a country that neither repents of its crimes nor reject sins. If the US government considers it necessary to wipe out an entire nation to get whatever they are looking for, America will do it. They don’t care about the number of people they will kill to get whatever they consider valuable.

 

That is how those that have strength or power continue to abuse it by oppressing the poor just as in the ocean the big fish always try to swallow down the small fish.  

The crimes of American leaders also continue to generate hate for its innocent citizens. Many hate Americans around the globe but they are not responsible for the crimes their leaders commit.

 

America enjoys committing so much crime to the extent that drugs and medicines sent to third world countries, including Africa, to treat HIV-Aids patients were contaminated giving rise to tuberculosis among Aids patients at the same time. 

Medical documents I obtained from the Dutch scientist, Johan van Dongen, and the German doctor, Wolff Geisler, revealed this horrible medical crime. (The two medical professionals don't know each other.)

Ama Ata Aidoo

Recently, going deep into the work of Ama Ata Aidoo, one of the prominent female Ghanaian writers, I found one of her old interviews on  Youtube about economic and health issues in Africa. She spoke about strange diseases, including tuberculosis that out from nowhere ‘miraculously’ appeared in Africa.

 

The listening to that interview opened my mind and without any doubt realized that Ama Ata Aidoo may probably be one of Africa's greatest scholars after Kwame Nkrumah. 

The fact that she spoke about the deliberate infection of tuberculosis in Africa and the documents I had from both the Dutch scientist, Johan van Dongen and the German doctor, Wolff Geisler were accurate to what Madam Aidoo said.

 

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjLRjUs8lY 

 

The US government didn’t only spread tuberculosis in Africa but also HIV-Aids, Ebola, Burkitt's lymphoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, and nodding disease. 

They were deliberately inflicted on the African population, by the US and British governments and Apartheid leaders of South Africa.

 

Even though most of the medical crimes committed by the US government take place in the third world countries, they affect other countries too, including China. 

In 2014, it was estimated that 501,000 people are living with HIV and 21,000 people have succumbed to the disease.

 

Another interesting point is that even though Ebola occurred predominantly in African countries; it affects China since the Chinese government has contracts of diverse projects going on in Africa. One of the reasons, China sent medical aid to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, in 2014, during the Ebola outbreak.

 

Since China or any developed country has never questioned the US government about its clandestine crime, the US government has no intention to refrain from using biological weapons on innocent population, until last year December, fed up China retaliated with the deadly devastating coronavirus.

 

Now America is sober and licking its wounds but the painful part of this story is the death of thousands of innocent people around the globe that haven’t committed any crime, including those in America that have to pay for the sins of the US government. 

It's sad and painful. The question is will the world experienced such a disaster again after the COVID-19 subsides? Yes, time after time, the need to depopulate the world is necessary for the eugenics. Time will tell.

REVENGE OF THE GHOST OF MUAMMAR QADHAFI AGAINST AMERICA?

Former Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi 

On October 20, 2011, people around the world watched on their screens the images of a bloody man who was lynched by a hysterical crowd. A few moments later, two swollen bodies lying next to each other, on dirty mattresses placed on the floor, were also shown to the world. 

The bodies were the Libyan leader, Muammar Qadhafi, and his son Al-Mu'tasim-Billah al-Qadhafi.

The event marks the end of a bombing campaign against Libya by NATO forces and the ground battles of their occasional allies, the Libyan revolutionaries, who, it will later turn out to be were fundamentalists and jihadists, but the West - Paris, London, Brussels, and even the UN Secretary-General welcome the new era of Libya. 

Why is Africa never allowed to grow despite all the resources on this big continent? Qadhafi was described as a megalomaniac and bloodthirsty dictator, whose relatives were enriched by diverting the country's oil wealth to the detriment of the Libyan people. He was also accused as a sponsor of international terrorism.

This is what the world was forced to believe about Gaddafi, described to be a monster and Qadha the reasons for the fatal war that the NATO powers have to wage against his country. 

Do we have to believe the US government, NATO forces, and their allies that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, yet when the Iraqi leader was captured and killed, nothing was found?

Well, it is now part of world history that George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair were the two biggest liars and friends.

However, before the death of Muammar Qadhafi, on April 5, 2011, in Tripoli, Muammar Qadhafi  poured out these emotional words, I prefer to call it ‘The Lamentations Of Qadhafi.”        :

For 40 years, or perhaps more, I have done all I can to give the people homes, hospitals, schools, and when they were hungry, I gave them food. I transformed Benghazi from a desert into fertile land. I resisted the attacks of the cowboy Reagan when trying to kill me; he killed an orphan, my adopted daughter, a poor, innocent child.

I have helped my African brothers and sisters with money for the African Union. I have done everything to help the people understand the concept of true democracy, in which the popular committees govern our country.

For some, this was never enough; people who had 10-room houses, rich clothing, and furniture. Selfish as they are, they asked for more at the expense of others; they were always dissatisfied and told the Americans and other visitors that they wanted democracy and freedom.

They did not want to realize that it is a cutthroat system, where the biggest dog devours everything. They were enchanted by these words, not realizing that in the USA, there were no free medicines, free hospitals, free houses, free education, and guaranteed food. 

For them, nothing I did was enough, but for the others, I was the son of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the only true Arab and Muslim leader we had since Saladin, a man who returned the Suez Canal to his people as I have Libya has claimed for my people. 

It was his footsteps that I tried to follow, to keep my people free from colonial rule, from the raiders who would like to rob us. Now I am under attack from the greatest military force in history. 

My little African son, Obama, wants to kill me, take away our country's freedom, our free homes, our free medicine, our free education, our safe food, and replace it with the US-style thief called capitalism. But we all in the Third World know what that means. It means that businesses govern countries, the world, and that people suffer.

So there is no alternative for me, I have to resist and, if Allah wills, I will die following the way, the way that has enriched our country with fertile fields, food, health, and has even allowed us to help our African and Arab brothers to work here with us in Libyan Jamahiriya.

I don't want to die, but if I had to get there, to save this land, my people, the thousands of my children, then it may be. Let this testament be my voice to the world, say that I opposed the attacks of the NATO crusaders, cruelty, betrayal, the West and its colonialist ambitions, that I resisted together with my African brothers, my real Arab and Muslim brothers.

I tried to shed some light when buildings were being built elsewhere; I lived in a modest house and a tent. I have never forgotten my youth in Sirte, I have not wasted our national wealth, and like Saladin, our great Muslim leader who saved Jerusalem for Islam, I took little for myself.

Captured Muammar Qadhafi

In the West, someone called me crazy and insane. They know the truth, but continue to lie. They know that our land is independent and free, not subject to colonialism. They know that my vision and my path have always been honest and in the interest of my people. They know that I will fight to the last breath to keep us free. God help us.

The lynching of Muammar Qadhafi

Six months after pouring out this lamentation, Gaddafi was captured and brutally murdered. Libya is now in ruins, and ISIS jihadists are resisting in the city, while a good part of the Libyan population is facing chaos and regret. 

In life, you will only miss your water when your well runs dry. This is a lesson to all African leaders easily deceived by the developed world. We are never loved because of the colour of our skin, but loved because of what they get from Africa.

Qadhafi is not alive to see America today, the country that callously and jealously generated his assassination because of his power and wealth. However, in life, people shouldn't take things for granted. Whatever evil people do to others shall be rewarded in another way or the other.

WHY FIDEL CASTRO AND KWAME NKRUMAH REJECTED DEMOCRACY

 Fidel Castro and Kwame Nkrumah

African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, to mention but a few, weren’t only intelligent but also had a vision of how the state of Africa would be if the US government imposed that type of lunatic Democracy on Africa.

As a matter of fact, this is one of the reasons why, even though Nkrumah studied in America, he had no interest in democracy than communism. Instead of Nkrumah seeking help from America to build his country, Ghana, Nkrumah collaborated with communist leaders in Russia, China, and Cuba.

Like Nkrumah, Fidel Castro also wasn’t interested in democracy, but the US government doesn’t leave leaders who aren’t interested in democracy alone. The CIA will work hard to eliminate you. Both Kwame Nkrumah and Fidel Castro survived several assassination attempts.

Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro

The significance of this article is to ask why the US government wants countries globally to follow democracy. And why do countries that aren’t interested in democracy instantly become enemies? As the story goes, America’s deadly hand of democracy got all African countries under its control.

The American government can’t stop preaching about democracy, telling the world that “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives,” is the best government for humanity, persuading all the Third World to also follow the 'almighty' democracy.

However, America has a different opinion or agenda when soliciting democracy in Africa. To carry out clandestine crimes against humanity, to kill every powerful Third World leader they consider a threat, and to test drugs and biological weapons, such as Aids and Ebola, in poor African countries to support their global depopulation schemes.

The oppression of Africans will never come to an end, firstly, because our leaders have no vision, and secondly, they are corrupt, lazy, and inefficient in utilizing their own resources; instead, they have become a new generation of slaves to advanced countries, such as Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the United States of America.

Fidel Castro and Julius Nyerere

No matter how hard African leaders try, the continent will never move forward because that’s part of a hidden definition of America’s democracy: to set a military base throughout Africa and manipulate African leaders’ efforts. Why didn't the US government didn't call out to the rich Libya under Gaddafi to build a military base in America?

After the manipulation of African leaders' efforts and the destabilization of our economy, African leaders would lay red carpets for the foreign criminals when on a visit. Yet Africans are always insulting their leaders without commenting on the criminal activities of the US government in Africa. However, African leaders deserve it.

African leaders can’t speak against Aids and Ebola, well-known African pastors also can’t speak against the crime the US government commits in Africa because the US embassies will deny them a visa to enter the US, thus America has been successful with its clandestine crimes in Africa.

Fidel Castro and Thabo Mbeki

The experience of past African political history should have been bona fide events to teach African leaders the best way to handle affairs in Africa. Unfortunately, past events don’t mean anything to our modern African leaders because they are only interested in power and corruption.

If Africa is in this turbulent state or my beloved Ghana is in such an acute economic crisis, how will Ghana be in the next ten years? It’s frightening indeed. I have said and I will repeat once again, “Both NPP and NDC can’t save Ghana, despite all the noise both parties are making over who is the best and the failure.

African countries, including my beloved Ghana, will crawl out from the coma when they stop depending on those Ghanaians called “Kumfudumfo.” (They claim they are helping you, yet they are killing you.)

ARCHIVE OF RACIAL TENSION IN AMERICA

Her crime was being black in a white-dominated educational institution.

In the deep sea, the big fish has no sympathy for the helpless small fish. They intimidate the small ones and always try to eat them up. That was once the hostile situation in America years back, in every sector, including the educational sector, against African Americans. 

It’s very embarrassing to see such images in America, a country that believes in democracy, above all, they say: In God We Trust.

The more disturbing factor is, America provided a “haven” in the United States for Nazis criminals and their collaborators after World War II, yet subjected African-Americans to abuse, discrimination, lynching, experimentation, and slavery.

The abolition of slavery is a fact recorded in history, but the reality is, it still exists in many places around the globe, including America today, because we live in a violent and corrupt society.

How many years now has America been fighting against the illegal drug entering its sovereignty? Because of corruption, the country is plagued by cocaine and other dangerous drugs, drastically taking its toll on many citizens.

There was a time when, if you were an honest hard worker with distinguished achievements in society, you would be awarded, but now those who commit serious crimes against humanity are those who receive those awards, including the Nobel Prize. 

Among the ring of liars, if you want to remain different and live in truth, you will eventually become an enemy.

Do you feel this world is okay? Are you happy about the turmoil and the path of doom the world has taken? Why are politicians fighting for power when they don’t have any means to save this world? Nothing in this world seems to be going better or doing well. Everything has taken the wrong path.

Whether Africans were used as Guinea pigs in testing drugs, whether Aids, Ebola, Lassa, and other deadly diseases were bio-weapons against Africans to depopulate the continent, or whether African-Americans were used for experimentation, the Black man has survived today. That power wasn’t strong enough to wipe out the black race.

Black history is a sad song and a rough road. Even though it’s like an image hanging on the wall, the Black man should change that sad song to a happy song and straighten up that rough road ahead of him. We should let go of hatred, jealousy, racism, racial discrimination, and hypocrisy to embrace love in our community.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

SUU KYI FREE AT LONG LAST

Suu Kyi


World leaders hailed the release of Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest Saturday, but warned the country's junta not to restrict her, even as a senior government official insisted she was "completely free". This is history in Burma, as the military junta bows to democracy.


Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi holds a bouquet of flowers as she appears at the gate of her house in Rangoon. World leaders have hailed the release of Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest but warned the military junta not to restrict her in other ways and called for all political prisoners to be freed.

US President Barack Obama said that "while the Burmese regime has gone to extraordinary lengths to isolate and silence Aung San Suu Kyi, she has continued her brave fight for democracy, peace, and change in Burma."

"She is a hero of mine and a source of inspiration for all who work to advance basic human rights in Burma and around the world," said Obama in a statement, using the country's former name.

While the United States welcomed Suu Kyi's release, it was "time for the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners," added Obama, in Japan for a regional summit, echoing sentiments aired by other world figures.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, "an inspiration" to the world, a UN spokesman said.

"The secretary-general expects that no further restrictions will be placed on her, and he urges the Burma authorities to build on today's action by releasing all remaining political prisoners," said the spokesman.

"France will be extremely attentive to the conditions in which Madame Aung San Suu Kyi enjoys her refund liberty," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement issued by the Elysee Palace.

Any "restrictions on her freedom of movement and expression would constitute a new unacceptable denial of her rights," he said.

But a senior Burmese official said no conditions were tied to Suu Kyi's release. "She is completely free -- there are no conditions at all," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called her release "long overdue", branding her detention for 15 of the last 21 years a "travesty, designed only to silence the voice of the Burmese people."

"Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy, and human rights," he said. "Freedom is Aung San Suu Kyi's right. The Burmese regime must now uphold it."

Britain is the former colonial power in Burma, which achieved its independence as Burma in 1948, and Suu Kyi's late husband was British.

Desmond Tutu, chair of the group of retired senior statesmen known as The Elders, called Suu Kyi "a global symbol of moral courage" and said her release "offers hope to the people of Burma."

For his part, Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Burma, told AFP he was "very, very relieved" at the news.

Pitsuwan said he hoped Suu Kyi would be able to play a role in bringing national reconciliation, while the Japanese government urged Burma to take "further positive measures."

In Brussels, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso called for Suu Kyi to be granted "unrestricted freedom of movement and speech" so she could "participate fully in her country's political process." He echoed the call for the release of political prisoners.

Similar reactions came from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the governments of Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, and South Africa.

In Geneva, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay called Suu Kyi's release "a positive signal" by Burma authorities and said she could "make a major contribution" in the transition to democracy and national reconciliation.

"I urge the authorities of Burma to now release the other 2,200 political prisoners as a clear sign that the new government intends to respect human rights and forge a new future for the country," Pillay said.

China, one of Burma's closest allies and a mainstay for the junta through trade ties, arms sales, and using its veto on the UN Security Council against sanctions, had no immediate reaction.

But the official Xinhua news agency, reporting her release, did describe Suu Kyi as "a noted political figure."

Rights group Amnesty International said Suu Kyi's release was not a "concession" by the regime and should not take attention away from other prisoners of conscience being held in "deplorable conditions".

Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch called the junta's move a "cynical ploy" to deflect criticism of its recent election.

"If the military government is serious about increasing political space after the elections, then it will release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally," said HRW official Elaine Pearson.