THE campaign for democracy in Burma has acquired influential support from an improbable source.

Laura Bush, the wife of President George W Bush, telephoned Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary-general, last week to urge action against a recent crackdown by the military junta in the country now known as Myanmar.

The American first lady has become increasingly outspoken about the situation in Burma. She is said to be deeply angered at the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, 62, the pro-democracy Nobel peace prize winner who has spent more than a decade under house arrest.

Over the past few weeks a series of antigovernment protests spurred by rising fuel and food prices has been suppressed. White House officials said Laura Bush had been angered by the absence of a UN effort to intervene on behalf the pro-democracy activists.

In her call to Ban “Mrs Bush noted that by staying quiet the United Nations – and all nations – condone these abuses,” said Sally McDonough, her press secretary. “Mrs Bush asked him to join the US in condemning the junta’s brutal crackdown.”

The first lady emerged as a public champion of Suu Kyi last September when she convened a discussion on Burma at the UN’s 61st general assembly. She has also met victims of alleged human rights abuses and joined a group of women senators who have launched a campaign to secure Suu Kyi’s release.

The group included both Republican and Democratic senators, and Bush described the effort as a “bipartisan issue . . . to stand with all our friends in Burma”. She also urged China to “worry about the human rights abuses” in Myanmar.

Constitutional experts said it was unusual for a first lady to take a direct role in foreign policy. While Hillary Clinton and other first ladies have been known for their political activism while at the White House, they mostly confined themselves to domestic issues such as health-care and education.

A White House official said the purpose of Bush’s latest intervention was to “put more focus on Burma and to highlight the increased activity that’s been happening there over the last two weeks”.

Yet regional analysts warned that America’s options for bringing significant pressure on Burma were limited. Both Russia and China have strong economic relationships with Myanmar, and are likely to block any hostile UN resolution. Bush said earlier this year she wanted Suu Kyi to know that “we think about her a lot”.

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