Johannesburg: South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on Tuesday for a fresh global effort to oust Myanmar’s military junta, saying the southeast Asian state should be the “next South Africa” freed from tyranny. 

“During the struggle against apartheid musicians, trade unionists, churches, teachers and students showed what we could do … against tyranny miles away,” Tutu wrote in an opinion piece in The Star, a local newspaper. 

 

“South Africa is now a democracy. We can make Burma (Myanmar) the next South Africa … I make a direct call here, to the friends who fought against apartheid South Africa, to help support the people of Burma,” the Nobel Laureate wrote, referring to Myanmar by its former name. 

 

Tutu also praised fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi — Myanmar’s detained democracy icon who turned 60 on Sunday — comparing her to anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. 

 

He said that from the political landscape of a “brutal military dictatorship …. emerged Burma’s own Mandela, in the form of the powerfully charismatic woman Aung San Suu Kyi.” 

 

Tutu said that if the global coalition which brought pressure on white-ruled South Africa “could be mustered for Suu Kyi, the result could be just as glorious.” 

 

South Africa had its first all-race elections in 1994, ending centuries of white domination. 

 

But Myanmar’s rulers have long resisted pressure to change. 

 

Analysts say that given the isolation and intransigence of those in charge of the former British colony, which has been under military rule for more than four decades, making noises from afar is about all the junta’s opponents can do.