UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has vowed to continue working for the release of Burma’s detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.

According to a statement issued by his spokesman, Annan said he “will continue to make every effort to secure” the release of political detainees in Burma, including Suu Kyi. He added the Burmese regime “has missed a significant opportunity” for democracy and national reconciliation by extending Suu Kyi’s house arrest for another year.

The renewal of Suu Kyi’s detention on Saturday came just days after Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, visited Rangoon, where he met Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Suu Kyi. Gambari said the ruling junta appeared “ready to turn a new page.”

“Despite this setback, the international community cannot abandon the search for improvements in the difficult situation in Myanmar [Burma],” Annan said. He also urged Burma’s ruling junta to take other steps to improve “safety and access for humanitarian assistance and restraint in military operations that have affected civilians.”

In a videotaped statement yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the Burmese junta to end its attacks on civilians and reciprocate opposition calls for national reconciliation talks.

Rice’s statement was made to commemorate the anniversary of Burma’s 1990 election-in which the main opposition party National League for Democracy won a landslide victory but was never allowed to assume power.

Rice said the US stands in solidarity with the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma. “Your dream of democracy is not forgotten, nor is it yours to bear alone.”

The US is seeking a second briefing on Burma at the Security Council this week to prescribe some form of action, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

“I understand that there is going to be a briefing for the Security Council, but I certainly wouldn’t preclude the possibility that action by the Security Council would end with just a briefing,” he told AFP news agency.

McCormack did not specify what action the council might recommend, but experts have suggested that it could seek “non-punitive” action, such as adopting a resolution asking the UN secretary-general to report to the council on developments of Burma, and could also demand the release of Suu Kyi and the halting of military offensives against ethnic Karen, the AFP reported.

During a council meeting last year, China, Japan, Russia and Algeria argued that the issue of Burma exceeded the council’s mandate of international peace and security.

In response to mounting international criticism over Suu Kyi’s extended term of house arrest, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win insisted that the matter was a domestic issue in comments made during a two-day ministerial meeting of the Nonaligned Movement in Malaysia.