YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's military junta extended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention by one year today, ignoring worldwide appeals to free the Nobel laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

The move came as officials said that international aid workers had finally begun entering Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta area after being blocked for more than three weeks by the junta.

A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said that Suu Kyi's detention was officially extended by one year this afternoon.

Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest continuously since May 2003, has long been the symbol of the regime's brutality and the focus of a worldwide campaign that has lobbied for her release.

The extension was issued despite a Myanmar law that stipulates no one can be held longer than five years without being released or put on trial.

Myanmar is already facing international condemnation for the way it failed the Cyclone Nargis relief effort, with more than half of the 2.4 million survivors of the storm still desperately needing food, clean water and shelter more than three weeks after the disaster.

Official government estimates put the death toll at about 78,000 with an additional 56,000 people missing.