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UN chief arrives in Myanmar to press junta
Myanmar News.Net
Friday 3rd July, 2009 (IANS)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Myanmar Friday for a two-day official visit during which he will press for the release of all political prisoners including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ban and his entourage arrived at Yangon International Airport, stopping over briefly in the old capital before flying on to the junta's new headquarters in Naypyitaw, 350 km north of Yangon.
There he is scheduled to meet Myanmar's military supremo Senior General Than Shwe, and 25 representatives from political parties, including four leaders from the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, officials said.
It was unclear whether Ban would be allowed to meet opposition leader Suu Kyi, who is currently being held at Yangon's infamous Insein Prison.
Suu Kyi is on trial for breaking the terms of her detention by allowing US national John William Yettaw to swim into her lakeside home-cum-prison May 3 and spend two nights in her compound.
A special court set up at Insein Prison was scheduled to hear a defence witness in the Suu Kyi case Friday, but the hearing was postponed until July 10.
Court officials said the hearing was postponed because the Supreme Court had yet to pass over necessary documents, but it happened to coincide with the arrival of Ban.
Ban last visited Myanmar in May 2008, to hasten international aid to the country in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which killed up to 150,000 people.
Ban's talks with Myanmar's senior leadership are expected to focus on a plea for the release of all political prisoners including Suu Kyi; resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition; and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections planned in 2010.
'I will try to use this visit as an opportunity to raise in the strongest possible terms and convey the concerns of the international community of the United Nations to the highest authorities of the Myanmar government,' Ban told a press conference in Tokyo Thursday.
'Three of most important benchmarks would be: first of all, they should release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi; they should immediately resume the dialogue between the government and opposition leaders; and they should also create an atmosphere, political as well as a legal framework, conducive to the credible election which needs to be taken next year in a most objective, transparent and democratic manner,' he added.
Observers believe it is highly unlikely that Than Shwe will agree to release Suu Kyi prior to the 2010 polls.
The first day of Ban's visit will coincide with the resumption of the trial of Suu Kyi on charges of violating her house arrest, by allowing a US citizen to swim to her lakeside residence in Yangon.
Suu Kyi's case, being held at a special court set up in Yangon's Insein Prison, is scheduled to resume Friday with testimony from defence witness Khin Moe Moe, an attorney.
The trial began May 11. While the prosecution was allowed to present 14 witnesses in the first week, the defence was initially allowed only one. Later, Khin Moe Moe was permitted to testify.
Critics say the military junta is using the case as a pretext to keep the 1991 Nobel peace laureate in jail during a politically sensitive period, leading up to next year's general election.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked from power by Myanmar's junta for the past 19 years.
The new trial of Suu Kyi, whose most recent six-year house arrest sentence expired May 27, has sparked a chorus of protests from world leaders and statements of concern from its regional allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations.  Email this story to a friend
Comments on this story
Anonymous
07-03-09, 05:57 PM |
UN chief arrives in Myanmar to press junta
Keep on talking Mr. Ban, as long as there is no blood shed, and Ms. Suu Kyi is safely living at home, the world is not disturbed.
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waltky
07-04-09, 03:22 AM |
Lotsa luck...
:mad:
Myanmar denies UN chief’s request to see Suu Kyi
4 Jul 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon could leave Myanmar empty-handed after apparently failing to win any concessions from the country’s top military ruler or gain permission to visit opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in jail.
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The UN chief will press again Saturday in another private meeting, a UN spokeswoman said. He also will continue to seek various other reforms that include democratization, fair elections, economic cooperation and freedom for her and all other political prisoners. Ban talked for two hours Friday with reclusive Senior Gen. Than Shwe in an ornate reception hall, complete with an indoor waterfall, in Naypyitaw, the junta’s remote, newly built capital.
It was a rocky start to what the UN chief predicted would be “a very tough mission” to win freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced ong sahn SUE CHEE), the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been detained by the junta for nearly 14 of the past 20 years and is now on trial charged with violating her house arrest. Ban emerged from Friday’s meeting saying he still hoped to meet Suu Kyi before he leaves the country on Saturday night. “I told him that I wanted to meet her, but he told me that she is (on) trial," Ban told reporters after meeting with Than Shwe. “But I told him that this is my proposal, and this is important, and I’m waiting for their reply."
It was Ban’s second visit to Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis devastated much of the country last year. His first visit managed to persuade the military government to ease access for hundreds of foreign aid workers who had been restricted from entering cyclone-affected areas. He also oversaw a conference that raised up to $150 million in emergency relief funds. However, the UN has been unable to budge the junta on its refusal to free its estimated 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
[url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest-of-World/Myanmar-denies-UN-chiefs-request-to-see-Suu-Kyi/articleshow/4736811.cms:
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waltky
07-05-09, 11:49 PM |
Ban gets snubbed by junta...
:mad:
Ban heads home empty-handed
Monday, Jul 06, 2009, FRUITLESS TRIP?: Myanmarâs ruling junta brazenly snubbed the UN secretary-generalâs attempts to meet with Nobel Peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
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Ban departed with a stern rebuke for military ruler Than Shwe, saying that the reclusive general had missed an opportunity to show the regimeâs commitment to implementing democratic reform and to holding free elections next year. His failure to extract even the smallest concession from the iron-fisted regime plays into the hands of critics, who warned him against visiting at the same time as Aung San Suu Kyi faces an internationally condemned trial. The UN chief admitted that he was âdeeply disappointedâ by Than Shweâs intransigence over visiting the Nobel Peace laureate. He was even kept waiting overnight in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday to hear about the refusal.
He said being able to visit her would have been an âimportant symbol of the governmentâs willingness to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections of 2010 are to be seen as credible.â Than Shwe had told the UN chief that he could not visit Aung San Suu Kyi in prison because she was still on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest after a US man swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May, Ban said. However, Ban defended himself against criticism that the two-day trip was fruitless, saying that the junta chief had not rejected any of his other proposals for reform, including the release of political prisoners.
His meetings with Than Shwe had allowed him to convey âvery franklyâ the international communityâs concerns about Myanmarâs progress toward democracy. âIf you use the word reject, itâs only my request to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. For all my proposals, I believe they will seriously consider, they have not rejected any of what I proposed,â Ban said. Rights groups and analysts warned that the junta could use the high-profile visit as a way of showing that it was listening to international concerns â while doing nothing about them.
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http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/07/06/2003447952[/url]
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