Myanmar's top court agrees to hear Suu Kyi appeal

(YANGON) - Myanmar's supreme court agreed Friday to hear an appeal against the extended house arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as the European Union said it wanted sustained dialogue with the ruling junta.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, 64, was ordered to spend another 18 months in detention in August after being convicted over an incident in which a US man swam to her house. A lower court rejected an initial appeal in October.

"The supreme court decided to hear Aung San Suu Kyi's request. Lawyers have to present arguments before the court on December 21," a Myanmar official said on condition of anonymity.

The decision had been posted on the noticeboard of the court in the former capital Yangon on Friday, the official added.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), confirmed that the top court had agreed to hear the appeal but said he had no further details.

Myanmar's military rulers have kept Suu Kyi in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, ever since they refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last democratic elections in 1990.

The extension of her house arrest after a trial at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison sparked international outrage as it effectively keeps her off the stage for elections promised by the regime some time in 2010.

But in recent months the administration of US President Barack Obama has launched a policy of engagement with the Myanmar regime because sanctions on their own have failed to bear fruit.

The European Union is also set to begin "sustained political dialogue" with the ruling generals after years of its own sanctions, EU ambassador David Lipman said after holding talks with reclusive junta chief Than Shwe.

"We had a good discussion about future relations between the European Union and Myanmar and we are looking forward," Lipman told reporters Thursday of the 30-minute meeting in the remote jungle capital Naypyidaw a day earlier.

"I think the government would like to engage with the European Union. They are already engaging with the United States," he said.

Lipman said future engagement would follow three tracks -- general humanitarian assistance, the giving of financial aid through non-government organisations, and now political discussion.

"At the moment, we are working on the third track which is for political dialogue. The third track is now very much in the process of moving forwards," he said.

Lipman said EU officials hope to hold talks with Myanmar foreign minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of a climate change conference beginning Monday in Copenhagen. Myanmar officials could not immediately confirm Nyan Win's attendance.

There have also been signs of rapprochement between Suu Kyi and the junta since she wrote to Than Shwe in September offering her cooperation in getting Western sanctions lifted, after years of favouring harsh measures.

She also had two meetings with Aung Kyi, the labour minister and official liaison between her and the junta, the first such talks since January 2008, and met western diplomats in Yangon.

In November the regime allowed her to make a rare appearance in front of the media after holding talks with US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the highest level official from Washington to visit Myanmar for 14 years.

A visit by a US senator Jim Webb in August secured the release of John Yettaw, the eccentric American man who swam across a lake to Suu Kyi's mansion in May and sparked the case that led to her detention being prolonged.

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon visited Myanmar in July but was not allowed to meet Suu Kyi.

Ban has named his special envoy to Myanmar, veteran Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, as new head of the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Ban's office said Thursday on its website.