UN chief meets Myanmar junta chief

Uzbekistan News.Net
Friday 3rd July, 2009 (IANS)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Myanmar's military leader Friday on an official visit that aimed at pressing for the release of all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

According to Myanmar's state-run television, Ban held talks with Senior General Than Shwe in Naypyitaw, the military's headquarters in central Myanmar.

No details of their talks were provided.

Ban and his entourage arrived at Yangon International Airport Friday morning, stopping over briefly in the old capital before flying on to Naypyitaw, 350 km north of Yangon.

Besides meeting Than Shwe, the UN chief was scheduled to meet 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 with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently being held at Yangon's infamous Insein Prison. On Saturday, he will return to Yangon.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate 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 the 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 trial began May 11.

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.

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