OSLO (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winners and world leaders appealed to Myanmar's military junta Saturday to free the 1991 laureate, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest and to shift to democracy.
Former winners South African anti-apartheid advocate Desmond Tutu and East Timorese independence campaigner Jose Ramos Horta led the call from Oslo where about 30 laureates met on the 100th anniversary of the first prize.
About 1,000 people cheered in the rain outside Norway's parliament and thousands of others joined the call in events worldwide from Washington DC to Bangkok, linked together via satellite with a giant five-meter (16ft) long screen.
Between 25 and 30 laureates signed the appeal, including Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, former Polish president Lech Walesa and Guatemalan Indian rights campaigner Rigoberta Menchu. They also called for a meeting with Rangoon.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel for her peaceful pursuit of human rights and democracy in Myanmar, expressed optimism her non-violent fight for democracy would prevail.
``We believe that humanity is capable of progress,'' said Suu Kyi in a pre-recorded video organizers said was smuggled out of Myanmar. It was beamed on the outdoor screen to cheers from laureates and the crowd.
She said the problems of the southeast Asian country, one of the world's least developed, stemmed from ``bad governance'' and called on world leaders to join the struggle for democracy.