Myanmar's (Burma) military junta says it will release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the end of this year. But there's reason to believe these words are hollow and that the 64 year-old Nobel Laureate will remain in detention. 

Listen to an interview with Mark Farmener of Burma Campaign UK

Myanmar's Home Minister Maung Oo has reportedly said that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be freed in November, when her current term of house arrest ends. Mark Farmener, director of London based Burma Campaign UK, says the annoucement is a tactic designed to lull the international community into complacency:

"They [Myanmar's government] know this will get the media interested. They know this this will get lots of positive publicity and that will give the excuse to governments like Germany and Spain and others that have been wanting to relax the pressure on Burma's generals."

Constant lies
Ms Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for 15 of the last 20 years, since her political party won elections back in 1990. The military, however, refused to recognise the results. Myanmar's junta has promised to hold 'free and fair' parliamentary elections this year, though it has yet to set a date.

Human rights activists argue that Ms Suu Kyi should be released well in advance of the poll so that she can participate. The November release date suggested today, however, would probably mean elections will already have been held by then.

And the question remains as to whether Ms Suu Kyi will be set free at all. She was already under house arrest last year when her sentence was extended because of a bizarre incident involving an American swimming onto her property. The man was uninvited but Ms Suu Kyi was convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest, which was then extended by 18 months. Mr Farmener says there is little reason to believe today's announcement was issued in good faith:

"The regime has made it really clear in their actions that they are not interested in releasing Aung San Suu Kyi. They have doubled the number of political prisoners since the monks' uprising in 2007. While they're very good at this kind of spin, the reality on the ground is very different... We need to look at what's actually going on not the constant lies of the generals."