Aung San Suu Kyi (file photo)

Dissident groups say Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is refusing food deliveries at her Rangoon home, where she is under house arrest, sparking rumors that she has begun a hunger strike.

Dissident groups based in Thailand say the Nobel Peace Prize laureate last accepted a food delivery on August 15, but turned away supplies on August 22.

Her political party, the National League for Democracy, says it has no way of determining Aung San Suu Kyi's condition or intentions, because it is not allowed to keep in contact with her.

The news comes after the democracy leader refused to meet with U.N. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari last week.

Ibrahim Gambari (file photo)

Gambari left Burma Saturday after failing to convince the military government to talk with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

Aung San Suu Kyi refused to see Gambari during his six-day visit, and the NLD called his trip a waste of time, because he also failed to meet Burma's top leader, General Than Shwe.

Burma is planning elections in 2010.  The country also has passed a new constitution as part of a so-called "roadmap to democracy."

The controversial new charter guarantees the military a continued role in government.  It also bars Aung San Suu Kyi from office because she was once married to a foreigner, a British citizen who died of cancer in 1999.

The NLD won a landslide victory in elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern.  Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.

 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.