This handout photo taken and released on Aug. 3, 2026 by Myanmar's Presidential Press and Information Bureau (PPIB) shows detained former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi (L) meeting with Arnaude de Baecque, resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Myanmar, in Naypyidaw.(AFP)
Myanmar’s detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with the Red Cross representative to the country Aug. 3, the president’s office said, the first publicized meeting between her and a foreign official since she was ousted in a 2021 coup.
The military deposed Suu Kyi in February 2021, jailing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering an ongoing civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people, according to monitor ACLED.
The coup leader and former junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, was installed as civilian president in April following highly restricted elections.
Suu Kyi, now 81, was moved to house arrest later that month after Min Aung Hlaing said he had commuted the rest of her sentence.
She was detained on a host of charges that rights groups say were confected to sideline her and her popular National League for Democracy party.
The president’s office said in a statement that Arnaud de Baecque, the Resident Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Myanmar, met with Suu Kyi Aug. 3 morning.
Suu Kyi is seen shaking hands with a man who appears to be de Baecque in a photo released by the president’s office.
Another image shows Suu Kyi cutting a birthday cake, and another shows the cake with text reading: “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu.”
“We are happy to see her photo like this if it’s really her meeting with the ICRC. We can know now that she’s alive,” a veteran politician of her party told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“However, Aunty should be released immediately as she’s being detained unlawfully,” the politician said.
Authorities have not disclosed the exact location of Suu Kyi’s detention in the capital Naypyidaw, nor how many years of her sentence remain.
